Normally we would expect dollar stores to be small shops in malls or street corners selling poor quality items for cheap prices, but Dollarama is changing those views entirely. Dollarama is what I like to call the superstore of dollar stores. It carries a variety of items ranging from $1.00 to $3.00 (as of August 2012) and supplies brand name products such as Dove, Olay, Glad, and Rubbermaid, but also carries the usual dollar store products such as hair accessories, stationary, and houseware items. Dollarama is also known for supplying products normally not found in dollar stores such as condoms and $1.25 pregnancy tests.
Dollarama Inc. is a Canadian market leader and it is in competition with companies such as Canadian Tire, Wal-Mart, and Target which is coming to Canada in 2013. Its second quarterly reports were released in September 2012 and proved financial analysts by exceeding the predicted figures and earned 7.3% more sales than 2011. I was surprised their sales increased with the addition of $3.00 items. As consumers expect products to be around $1.00, I would have expected sales to decrease as consumers would not be attracted to purchasing items more than $1.00 at a dollar store. Its price of their stocks have also increased $50 since 2009.
Dollarama has proven that they are a strong contendor in retail and that their revenue can be high even as a dollar store. I am a regular customer as well as a supervisor at Dollarama and I am excited to see the future success of this company.
Sources: Why Dollarama is beating Wal-Mart and Target, How Canada’s retailers discounted the rise of the dollar store, Dollarama profit jumps 32% as sales increase, margins improve, Dollarama’s growth is simply ‘remarkable’, Dollarama Image