Photo Credit: The History Channel
My true experience and thoughts behind the “crazy” sales
Candy Hua, Contributor
Black Friday and Cyber Monday have been a long tradition across North America for the Friday after Thanksgiving in the United States. Cyber Monday happens the following Monday, which is when online stores have deals and encourage people to shop digitally. For many people, it’s a great start to Christmas shopping as many stores both in-person and online offer heavy discounts on most items, attracting consumers to spend money.
According to Statista and a 2021 survey conducted by Leger, 43% of Canadian shoppers participated in Black Friday, and 31% of Canadian shoppers participated in Cyber Monday. But why do more shoppers participate in Black Friday compared to Cyber Monday? In my opinion, I think more shoppers tend to gravitate towards Black Friday more because there are both deals in stores and online, which usually lasts from a couple of days up to a week. I think that Cyber Monday targets Generation X (1965-1980), Millennials / Generation Y (1981-1996), and Generation Z (1997-2012) as we are more tech-savvy and it’s more convenient for us. To add on, during the COVID-19 pandemic, many of us resorted to online, which boosted a booming economy for the e-commerce world. However, this also resulted in some retailers filing for bankruptcy, closing down stores, or resorting to online platforms, which can save retailers operating and labor costs.
For Black Friday and Cyber Monday, I did buy a couple of things for myself and some gifts for my family, friends, and loved ones. I felt like both Black Friday and Cyber Monday were not worth the hype for me anymore as I used to go overboard on my spending and order a bunch of items I didn’t really need, and most of the deals are pretty much the same. A couple of years ago, I went to Fairview Mall in North York, Toronto with my mom and friend and I remember it took forever to find parking. A majority of items that I purchased at the time were from Indigo, which had deals up to 40%, Artizia with deals up to 50%, and Princess Polly which had deals up to 30%. As I’m writing this, I’m still waiting for my packages to arrive hopefully in the coming days, but I’m glad I was able to be more money conscious and buy the things I’ve been wanting for a while, rather than simply spending for the sake of sales.
I think it depends on the person’s shopping habits and opinion whether they think Black Friday or Cyber Monday is worth it. If you did buy something on Black Friday or Cyber Monday, I hope you enjoyed it, and if not, I hope you enjoyed doing whatever you did.
