Black Friday in Canada: Is the Hype and Preparation Actually Worth It?
I explored consumer behaviors and tracked item prices before and during Black Friday/Cyber Monday 2018. Here are the results.
In a previous blog post, I explored the history of Black Friday and what businesses can do to prepare for one of the largest shopping events of the year.
Following that, I started to get more curious on how people intended to shop on Black Friday and Cyber Monday and how much of a discount retailers were willing to give.
People and Interest
Using Typeform, I distributed a survey on Facebook and LinkedIn.
People were asked which type of products they were interested in shopping for on Black Friday and/or Cyber Monday and how they intended to shop.
Participants were asked if they would shop in-store, online, or both. 48% said online only, 45% said both and 7% said in-store only.
Of the respondents that intended to shop online only or both, 98% of them were between the ages of 18 and 34.
The 5 most popular categories that people intended to shop for were:
- 64% for electronics (audio/video, cameras, cell phones, computers…)
- 61% for apparel
- 39% for shoes & bags
- 30% home (decor, kitchenware, furniture, appliances…)
- 25% beauty and health (cosmetics, grooming, supplements, bath…)
Only 11% of people indicated not being interested in shopping.
52% of respondents replied with specific items when asked if there were “any particular items you intend to shop for.” This implies that, to a certain degree, people planned their shopping lists for this occasion in advance.
Price Tracker
I decided to semi-randomly (by picking companies that came to mind and browsing their site), select items (51) and merchants (12) and looked at the price difference before Black Friday, on Black Friday and on Cyber Monday using Airtable.
Only the price of each item individually was analyzed. Therefore, “buy one get the other at 50% off” and other offers of a similar nature would not count as you need to buy 2 items to benefit.
Merchants selected are: Vans, Canada Goose, H&M, Walmart, Zara, Urban Outfitters, Adidas, Pandora, Swarovski, Maison Birks, Tiffany & Co, and EB Games.
The number and selection of items to be analyzed from each merchant was also decided semi-randomly. The process consisted of me browsing their website and selecting products.
Of all the items, 39% items were discounted on Black Friday and 33% were discounted on Cyber Monday.
The total value of the discounts equaled $2,539 on Black Friday and $2,516 on Cyber Monday.
There were 5 items (from Zara) on sale only on Black Friday OR had a bigger discount on Black Friday. That being said 2 out of those 5 were no longer available.
There were 4 items on sale only on Cyber Monday OR had a bigger discount on Cyber Monday: H&M (2), Urban Outfitters (1), Pandora (1).
Total value of items at original price: $15, 788.18
Total value of items on Black Friday: $13, 249.18
Total value of items on Cyber Monday: $13, 272.18
Future Implications
This study was conducted in an informal nature, but still sheds some light on the behaviors and habits of people and companies on Black Friday and Cyber Monday.
The purpose was to spark a conversation and evaluate additional areas of research from the base findings.
I propose further analysis should be conducted on the selection process of how and why products get discounted on Black Friday and Cyber Monday; the types of products consumers should aim to buy to maximize savings; what people perceive as a “good deal”; and the ratio between what people intend to buy and what people actually end up buying.
It would also be interesting to evaluate the differences in prices as well as the differences in consumer habits on Black Friday, Cyber Monday and Boxing Day.
You can view the data from the survey as well as statistics here.
You can view the price tracker on Airtable here.
Evan is the co-founder and Head of Strategy for Playground, a Montreal-based design and data-driven agency.
Have a project in mind? I’d be glad to listen over a cup of coffee!