Over the past few months the bottom has fallen out of the value of the Canadian Dollar$. To spend $100US cost $112 Canadian a year ago. Today it costs $131. So to buy a brand new Sebenza online a year ago would cost a Canadian about $530 a year ago and $620 today. Which sucks for me because I wanted to pick one up this year.
Since the vast majority of our products are imported, us Canadians will soon be paying more for just about everything. And because buying knives are a discretionary purchase, believe there will be a huge negative impact on demand of knives from Canadian customers.
To make matters worse, the cost of hydro in Ontario has risen dramatically - we now have the highest hydro rates in North America. Also, the government is about to implement a new pension tax which will cost ~1.5% of our income. There is also talk about a new carbon tax.
The only bright spot is the cost of gasoline has decreased dramatically.. on the other hand this is going to hurt the Western Provinces since the economy out there revolves around oil and gas.
These conditions have implications for Knife Manufacturers and Retailers selling to Canadians. These may seem obvious to you, but if I had to guess, here are some of the things you could expect to see happen in Canada (Some of these things may already have started happening):
Overall, demand and size of the market in Canada will decrease.
The mix of total sales will shift to knives at lower price points (budget knives, cheaper chinese value knives and knockoffs).
Though cost of materials will go up, custom knife makers in Canada will grow because labour makes up a large% of the cost of producing a knife.
More Canadian collectors will be looking to unload their collections.. So if you have an eye on a knife in your Canadian friend's collection, it may be a good time to start asking them about it.
Since the vast majority of our products are imported, us Canadians will soon be paying more for just about everything. And because buying knives are a discretionary purchase, believe there will be a huge negative impact on demand of knives from Canadian customers.
To make matters worse, the cost of hydro in Ontario has risen dramatically - we now have the highest hydro rates in North America. Also, the government is about to implement a new pension tax which will cost ~1.5% of our income. There is also talk about a new carbon tax.
The only bright spot is the cost of gasoline has decreased dramatically.. on the other hand this is going to hurt the Western Provinces since the economy out there revolves around oil and gas.
These conditions have implications for Knife Manufacturers and Retailers selling to Canadians. These may seem obvious to you, but if I had to guess, here are some of the things you could expect to see happen in Canada (Some of these things may already have started happening):
Overall, demand and size of the market in Canada will decrease.
The mix of total sales will shift to knives at lower price points (budget knives, cheaper chinese value knives and knockoffs).
Though cost of materials will go up, custom knife makers in Canada will grow because labour makes up a large% of the cost of producing a knife.
More Canadian collectors will be looking to unload their collections.. So if you have an eye on a knife in your Canadian friend's collection, it may be a good time to start asking them about it.
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