Black Friday is increasingly popular with Canadians, according to a recent Ipsos Reid survey on behalf of Visa Canada.
The poll found that nearly 44% of Canadian online shoppers say they are likely to take advantage of discounts offered on Black Friday (today) and Cyber Monday (November 26) by shopping at American online merchants. That is a 10% increase over last year.
Shoppers are becoming more frugal, however.
The survey found that, on average, Canadians expect to spend $220 online this year, down from $262 in 2011.
Other key findings from the survey reveal that:
- Male shoppers will be the bigger spenders at $235, with women slightly behind at $208;
- Residents from Ontario ($237) and the Canadian Prairie provinces ($232) are the regions with the highest expected online spend, while those surveyed in Quebec ($184) are expected to spend the least during this period; and
- Of those Canadians who have shopped at U.S. sites, the key motivators to make more purchases at Canadian sites include free or flat rate shipping (76%), better prices or deals (74%) or prices and deals equivalent to those available in the U.S. (72%).
One thing that may make Black Friday 2012 less robust than last year is that some online-only retailers are not slashing prices as much as they did last year.
Vancouver-based online suit-seller Indochino, for example, last year offered buyers a 50% discount if they spent more than $700. This year, that discount is reduced to 30% for those who spend $700.
