> and believed a product packaged for the U.S. market would operate largely unchanged in Canada, and they were terribly wrong.
Really?
I was under the impression cross border shopping told a vastly different story. Seems there's a lot of demand for American products by Canadian shoppers.
Not “American products” but “the retail product”, i.e. the experience of walking into a Canadian Walmart or Target and buying a good, as opposed to buying the same good from a different source.
As you noted, cross-border shopping by Canadians in the U.S. is a completely different “product” (retail experience) and there’s still a ton of demand. This was probably part of the calculation that enticed Target and Walmart into Canada in the first place. Whatever was “lost” when they tried to translate the U.S. experience directly to Canada included something that mattered (and still matters) to Canadian shoppers.
I disagree re the product. Target entered Canada and did not offer anywhere near the value proposition as in American stores. They also often had empty shelves indicating they didn’t invest in logistics properly - this is table stakes!
I think American companies enter Canada thinking they can half-ass it and succeed, and quickly realize that’s not the case.
The context of this thread is that there are Canadian policies that fundamentally make the retail landscape different in Canada, and there’s no way for a foreign retailer to come in and not have to change the way they do things even if they wanted to. If Canada adjusted it’s policies to match the U.S. then Target would look the same on either side of the border.
huge supply chain issues as well, with duties, tariffs, taxes and relative purchasing power. Canada is not the 51st state in your existing logistics & fulfillment process.
Agreed. Part of the huge demand for a Nordstrom's in Canada was to replicate the store and product offerings you encountered on cross-border shopping trips. The reality is/was that the products in a Canadian Nordstrom's or Target WERE NOT the same as in the US.
Really?
I was under the impression cross border shopping told a vastly different story. Seems there's a lot of demand for American products by Canadian shoppers.