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Border Crossings

Retail Without Borders

Foreign Retailers in CanadaForeign Retailers in Canada

By Wendy Evas and Pina Barbiero. Centre for the Study of Commercial Activity, Ryerson Polytechnic University, 1999.

The study is comprised of two parts:
  1. a survey of foreign retailers in Canada,
  2. a special feature on Wal-Mart in Canada.
Part 1
Examines the experiences of foreign retailers in Canada to understand a range of issues such as:
The survey was distributed to the head offices of 125 international retailers in Canada. The companies that responded represent 55% of the total foreign controlled space in Canada in 1999.

Amongst the many findings, we identified that almost three quarters of the respondents had plans to expand further within Canada, and over half of the retailers operating in Canada purchase over 76% of their merchandise from Canadian suppliers.

Part 2
Describes the entry of Wal-Mart into Canada, how they transformed Woolco to Wal-Mart, their operations in Canada, and insight into such factors as logistics, culture, and their keys to success.