Two decades ago, the term ‘Black Friday’ might have struck an average Canadian as a bizarre American eco-effort aimed at saving energy, possibly by switching off all lights. Certainly, some Canadian shopping enthusiasts were aware of the big American shopping day, but most Canadians were happy to hold off their shopping sprees until Boxing Day to hunt for impressive deals at their local malls.
However, the advent of the internet brought about a transformative change. Just a click away, American Black Friday offers were now within their grasp, layered all over their computer screens. Tempted by considerable sales and lower taxes, Canadians flocked past the border to make hefty purchases of electronics, household items, and clothing, all available at exceedingly low prices unseen in the Canadian retail landscape.
As e-commerce proliferated on the rise of the internet, an increasing number of Canadians shifted their Black Friday shopping activities online, scouring for international discounts from the comfort of their homes. Kilometric border crossings for shopping didn’t significantly harm Canadian retailers’ earnings, as the scope of these shopping hauls remained largely restrained by cross-border shopping restrictions, high currency conversion rates, and considerable foreign transaction fees.
Local retailers generally overlooked the American Black Friday phenomenon, confident enough to engage their audience during the Boxing Day sales, traditionally the country’s leading shopping event.
However, with the Canadian dollar reaching parity with the US dollar around 2007, an increasing number of Canadians began making online or in-person purchases from American stores, presenting a potential threat to Canadian businesses. To counter this emerging competition, Canadian retailers introduced their version of ‘Black Friday,’ despite initial lukewarm responses from Canadian shoppers. For the first few years, Canadian Black Friday mostly offered half-baked deals as local retailers reserved their most significant price slashes for Boxing Day.
Canadian shoppers seeking substantial Black Friday savings continued their quests across the border, virtually or physically, prompting Canadian businesses to begin offering more appealing deals.
Google Trends shows a 25-fold increase in the search volume for ‘Black Friday’ in Canada over the last decade. Black Friday shopping has surged in popularity, even surpassing Boxing Day as the leading deal-hunting day of the year. According to a 2016 report in the Financial Post, “Canadian consumers spent 25.8% more on Black Friday than they did on Boxing Day last year.”
Interestingly, the initially American-centric deal day has gained such popularity in Canada that it’s becoming somewhat of an unofficial shopping ‘holiday.’ Recent research reveals that more than a million Canadians have repeatedly called in sick on Black Friday in recent years to ensure they don’t miss out on the best deals.
Given the considerable number of night-owl deal seekers launching into their shopping sprees at midnight, it’s no surprise that so many employees ‘need’ to take a sick day. The Financial Post outlined that “Google found a spike in 2015 shopping-related Black Friday searches between 12 a.m. and 2 a.m. eastern time, regardless of the time zone…”
While Canadians uphold their native customs with pride, they also unhesitatingly adopt cultural elements from their neighbor, as evidenced by a 2016 report by Retail Insider, which cites a study undertaken by Canadian think tanks, DIG360, and Leger. Black Friday was described as a ‘ubiquitous’ event, with almost a third of the population making purchases. The report also showed that while around 20% of Canadians shop on US websites and a mere 2-3% travel to the US for sales, most Canadians prefer shopping locally, either in-stores or online.
As such, it appears that Black Friday has solidified its position within the Canadian retail calendar.
