Nov. 23, 2025 "Retailers feel Black Friday pressure as Canadians expected to tighten their spending": Today I found this article by Jennifer La Grassa on CBC:
Businesses are under pressure to get in on Black Friday sales and start them early as Canadian shoppers are expected to pull back this holiday season.
That means more of what we've seen in recent years:
businesses extending their promotions to offer deals from after Halloween until late December,
according to the Retail Council of Canada (RCC).
“[Black Friday] is now more like a season than a day,” said Santo Ligotti, vice president of marketing and membership with the RCC.
“Smart retailers are going to continue to have offers throughout that period to continue to attract [shoppers].”
And for some small stores, in order to keep pace with the larger industry and match consumer expectations, they’re now offering Black Friday deals.
But this year brings a major challenge:
rising prices have people planning to spend less this holiday season.
While not representative of the overall Canadian population, several recent surveys highlight that trend.
One recent survey from the Bank of Canada, also found that all of the
uncertainty from trade action is weighing heavily on consumers,
“significantly dampening their spending expectations.”
Because of all of this, Ligotti with the RCC said price is king this season.
“Price is the top filter for Canadians.
They’re waiting for
sales,
price matching
and buying discounted,”
he said.
Small businesses dive in to Black Friday
In a bid to appeal to people’s pocketbooks, some small businesses, like local gift and homegoods shop Wolf & Rebel in Windsor, Ont., are pushing their first ever Black Friday sale.
“With the tariffs and everything, our prices have increased, and I think that it’s just become not as affordable for most people,” said shop owner Annie Vanrivong.
“People are struggling paying their groceries.
So coming to a place like ours, I feel like it is a luxury, like buying these little knickknacks.”
Vanrivong says the one-day only, up to 50 per cent discount won't do all that much for her bottom line,
but she hopes it boosts foot traffic in her store and sells items that aren’t moving from the shelves.
Homegoods and furniture store owner Fanny Vergnolle de Villers, of VdeV, says this is only her second year doing a Black Friday sale, but she realizes it’s what customers expect these days.
“It seems like people were disappointed if we weren’t doing anything, they were really expecting something, because the larger companies are doing it,” said Vergnolle de Villers.
While she said sales have been going well for her three stores in Quebec and Ontario, she says she’s noticed customers are on a “tighter budget.”
Some big retailers push steeper discounts
Big box stores have been diving into Black Friday for years now, but recently many are spreading out their promotions — what used to be one or two days of deals, is now weeks.
Best Buy, which usually has lineups out the door on Black Friday,
says its goal in pushing deals across several weeks is to ease congestion on the actual day.
This year, Best Buy Canada said sales started on Nov. 3, which is around the same time as last year.
Central store leader Joe Colucci, says while Best Buy's lowest offers can be found now up until Nov. 28,
the company will have discounts up to the New Year.
“We’re trying to give the customer a little bit of space so they can come in and shop a little bit earlier,” Colucci said.
Meanwhile Walmart says it’s offering some steeper deals compared to last year, but is expecting sales to stay strong over the next several weeks.
“[The] holiday is off to a pretty good start,” said John David Rainey, executive vice president and chief financial officer of Walmart Inc. in the company’s latest earnings call.
“Everything that we’ve seen so far makes us optimistic and encouraged about customers and members leaning into the seasonal events and holiday shopping period.”
Walmart Canada said it started offering early Black Friday sales a few weeks ago and that customers can expect discounts up to 35 per cent off, with steeper discounts on certain products.
“I think there’s something for everyone in the household and for all different types of budgets,” said Morgan Ferris, Walmart Canada’s VP of merchandising for entertainment, electronics and toys.
What about ‘Buy Canadian?’
As for whether the Buy Canadian movement might help boost sales for small shops, Ligotti with the RCC said that sentiment seems to have softened since the beginning of the year.
“If they’re going to push ‘Made in Canada’ or Canadian products, what we heard from Canadians now is that it’s still about the price,” said Ligotti.
And that’s in line with the Bank of Canada’s recent consumer survey, which found that many respondents said they weren’t willing to pay more than 10 per cent for a made-in-Canada product.
Despite this, small business owner Vergnolle de Villers hopes Canadians dedicate some of their budget to local brands.
“At least if people are doing the effort to do 10 per cent of their buying or just a little one thing or two things that you buy, it’s already very appreciated,” she said.
https://www.cbc.ca/news/business/business-black-friday-deals-9.6987854
Nov. 24, 2025 "Record U.S. Black Friday crowds to find fewer bargains amid high prices": Today I found this article on BNN Bloomberg:
Unprecedented numbers of Americans are expected to hit stores this Black Friday, but they are likely to curtail their spending as they find fewer bargains from tariff-hit retailers.
Marking the biggest turnout ever for the five-day stretch between Thanksgiving and Cyber Monday, 186.9 million people will shop, up from 183.4 million last year, the National Retail Federation projects. But sales growth for the last two months of the year, crucial for retailers, is expected to slow.
“Everything seems to be way more expensive” at malls, said Kate Sanner, a New Yorker who runs an online aggregator for second-hand listings. Last year, Sanner, 33, spent around $500 on gifts, but this season she plans to trim her budget to $300, eschewing most Black Friday discounts for targeted deals on specific products.
Thanksgiving falls on November 27 this year, giving retailers an extra day in the holiday window,
which typically accounts for a third of annual profits.
Retailers have launched early promotions to lock in sales:
Walmart’s WMT.N began on November 14 and will run in three phases through December 1, with Walmart+ members getting early access.
Amazon AMZN.O started its Black Friday deals week on Thursday,
while Macy’s M.N has opened a dedicated Black Friday portal.
Sales in November and December - in physical stores and online – are forecast to top $1 trillion for the first time, rising between 3.7 per cent and 4.2 per cent, but are likely to grow at a slower pace than last year’s 4.8 per cent gain, NRF projections show.
SHOPPERS AVOID DIPPING INTO SAVINGS FOR PURCHASES
While the sticker shock alone could deter some buyers, others are budgeting for the increased costs of other necessities.
“Knowing that our healthcare premium bill is going to jump astronomically in 2026 ... all of our discretionary spending has dropped significantly,”
said Liz Sweeney, founder of marketing agency Dogwood Solutions, who lives in Boise, Idaho.
“While we spent close to $2,000 on gifts in 2024, our 2025 budget is $750,” said 52-year-old Sweeney, who is skipping electronics and big buys this year, sticking to shoes, books and kitchenware.
Shoppers still have plenty in the bank, with households across all income levels holding more deposits than they did in 2019, before the COVID-19 pandemic, November data from Bank of America data shows. Consumers were also not using a significant portion of their savings, the data showed.
“Consumers are sentimentally weak
and fundamentally sound,”
said Mark Mathews, the NRF’s chief economist.
“U.S. household balance sheets are still strong.”
The federation estimates average spending on gifts and seasonal items such as
decorations,
cards,
food
and candy
will reach $890 per person,
slightly less than last year’s $902.
Nearly two-thirds of the 8,427 consumers polled say they will wait for Thanksgiving weekend deals, up from 59 per cent in 2024, with older shoppers driving the trend.
‘DEFINITELY SEEN FEWER PROMOTIONS’
“Knowing when is the right time to buy this year is more difficult,” said Edgar Dworsky, founder of Consumer World, who tracks holiday pricing.
“With so many pre-Black Friday sales,
there are no assurances the same deals will be offered again on the real Black Friday or that popular items will still be in stock.”
Historically, Dworsky said, stores such as Kohl’s KSS.N, JC Penney and Macy’s offered small kitchen appliances for as little as $5 after come combination of sales prices, percentage-off coupons and mail-in rebates, but many of those discounts have disappeared.
Kohl’s, for instance, is offering toasters, blenders, and electric frying pans for $9.99 without a rebate but with a coupon for 15 per cent off this year, he said.
“I’ve definitely seen fewer promotions this year both in-store and online. The first two weeks of November usually bring some activity — though in recent years the discounts haven’t been very deep — but this year there’s been very little and much more full price,” said Jessica Ramirez, who runs brand consultancy the Consumer Collective.
“When promotions do show up, they’re spot promotions, meaning they aren’t set and don’t last long,” she added.
While some retailers appear to be pulling back on promotions, Walmart is teasing some aggressive price cuts for Black Friday.
Some of Walmart’s featured deals include an 85-inch TCL Roku TV, originally priced at $678, marked down to $498 for Black Friday, according to a Reuters review of the retailer’s website.
Last year, Walmart highlighted a $120 discount on a 75-inch Vizio TV. This year’s lineup also features a Blackstone outdoor grill offered at $157, reduced from its list price of $224.
(Reporting by Siddharth Cavale in New York; Editing by Lisa Jucca, Sayantani Ghosh and William Mallard)
The other 2 blog posts of the week:
Do you have any Cathy Guisewite comic books?
https://badcb.blogspot.com/2025/11/do-you-have-any-cathy-guisewite-comic.html
"Fairweather too ‘downmarket,’ unsuitable to take over HBC space in Yorkdale: Oxford"/ "Court OKs Hudson’s Bay plan to auction its royal charter"
https://badcb.blogspot.com/2025/11/fairweather-too-downmarket-unsuitable.html
How does ghost tapping happen?
Unlike older scams that required a physical swipe or a tampered reader, ghost tapping can proceed without a card ever leaving its owner’s wallet or phone. According to the Better Business Bureau, scammers have several approaches (1):
They may bump or brush past someone in a crowded location with a hidden reader, triggering a payment from the victim’s tap-enabled device
They might pose as vendors, charity collectors, or door-to-door sellers and insist on tap payments — then charge far more than the buyer expects (2)
In more sophisticated schemes, scammers trick victims into entering their card details into phishing apps or links, adding them to mobile wallets they control to make unauthorized tap-to-pay purchases without the physical card present (3)
Here’s how to protect yourself:
Use an RFID-blocking wallet or card sleeve: RFID-blocking wallets can help prevent scammers from wirelessly accessing payment data through NFC technology (7).
Always verify merchant details before tapping: Check the merchant name and amount on the payment terminal before tapping, especially in flea markets or festivals, where counterfeit readers are more common and crowd sizes are large.
Enable real-time transaction alerts: Banks like RBC, CIBC and TD allow you to set up instant push notifications for all card activity.
Regularly review your statements: Check your transaction history regularly for small, unfamiliar charges that may indicate testing of stolen card credentials.
Report and act fast if you’re a victim: If you suspect you’ve been a victim, contact your bank or card issuer to freeze or cancel the card. Then, report the incident to your financial institution or the Canadian Anti‑Fraud Centre (CAFC).
Do you make a shopping list for Black Friday?
No, I don't plan to make any purchases on Black Friday
47.93% (2896)
No, I make my purchases spontaneously
33.65% (2033)
Yes, I prepare a list of what I want to buy
18.42% (1113)
Najm G, Brampton, Ontario, would like to know:
How would you describe your worldviews?
Varies depending on the topic
76.44% (3423)
Aligned with the majority of people
11.88% (532)
Different from most people's views
11.68% (523)
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