U.S. stores taking over Canada one store at a time
Nov 24th, 2011 by sammiechan
Following Emma Thompson’s blog about Target creating stores in Canada, I have to agree with her blog post. Take a look around a local mall– how many stores belong to U.S. companies? Majority of the well-known stores like Wal-Mart, Forever 21, Starbucks, and Mc Donalds, they are all American stores. Recently, Target just bought out Zellers, making there another American store in Canada. I agree with Emma that this was a good decision on Target’s part because most Canadians rather shop in the U.S. than here. Why? Because of the price difference. Although the Canadian dollar is stronger than the US dollar at times, Canadian prices are still comparably more expensive. So why not drive down a couple of kilometers to purchase cheaper merchandise?
In general, I believe consumers will enjoy having Target instead of Zellers because Target offers newer and better products. Furthermore, since new products are generally available in the U.S. first, customers will enjoy that they will have relatively quicker access to these products via Target. Also, Target entering Canada does pose a competitive advantage because of its already well known reputation. Canadian customers will most likely enjoy purchasing from a new store.