Cyber Monday: Canadians search for meaningful, budget-friendly gifts
Global News
Canadians are shifting from splurges to essentials this Cyber Monday, focusing on simple discounts, tighter budgets and more meaningful, handmade or local gifts.
With Black Friday behind them and Cyber Monday underway, Canadian shoppers are looking for deals, but they’re buying differently this year.
Jeff Doucette of Field Agent Canada told Global News that demand for promotions remains strong.
“Ninety per cent of Canadians were looking to purchase and get some deals during Black Friday or right through to the Cyber Monday weekend,” he said. “People are actually taking advantage of Black Friday deals to buy things like laundry detergent and just things that they use in their house every day.”
Even with sales, shoppers say budgets remain tight. The average Canadian plans to spend less than $500 on gifts this year.
“Their salaries haven’t necessarily gone up,” said Doucette. “They don’t have more money to spend just because things are more expensive, so they’re being smarter.”
Businesses are feeling the shift as well. Calgary wine shop owner Nathalie Gosselin told Global News that stores are working harder to close sales.
“A lot more events, a lot more tastings… we’re working twice as hard for a very small amount of growth,” she said.
While Canada’s GDP grew 0.6 per cent in the third quarter, unemployment remains high at 7.8 per cent. That economic pressure has many shoppers thinking more about meaning than price.
Alberta's UCP government is changing the rules to make it easier for citizens to force a referendum on issues such as the prospect of the province leaving Confederation.
An at-home DNA test given as a birthday gift solved an 80-year family mystery by revealing that a man in Quebec and a man in the Netherlands were long-lost brothers.
Lina Vargas was on the board for almost two years and told Global News that accountability and transparency are fundamental rights for all community members.
Industry Minister Melanie Joly told the House of Commons committee on international trade the move breaches federal contracts tied to manufacturing in Brampton and Windsor, Ont.
A targeted home invasion and kidnapping led to a gunpoint standoff with police and an overnight chase across Toronto. Two suspects remain at large, investigators say.
In a post on his LinkedIn account, Simon Donner says he resigned on Tuesday and he is grateful for the opportunity to help shape climate policy in Canada.
The development charges can vary greatly from city to city, the Canada Mortgage and Housing Corporation report found.
The three leaders will be in Washington, D.C., for the FIFA World Cup draw, marking the first time they will be in the same room together.
Flu season has arrived early, with CHEO reporting eight times more cases than last year as hospitals warn of rising infections among children and seniors.
Nova Scotia’s largest utility is responding to a stinging letter from Premier Tim Houston by insisting it hasn't broken any laws.
A British Columbia Liberal MP said Prime Minister Mark Carney "will have to answer" questions on why he reversed a budget commitment on tax credits in Alberta energy deal.
AFN Chief Cindy Woodhouse Nepinak has said Budget 2025 failed First Nations because it did not include more infrastructure funding and educational resources for their communities.
Conservation officers in B.C. say they've captured four more grizzly bears that are being tested to determine if they were involved in an attack on a school group last month.