Black Friday, now a major shopping event in Edmonton

The American shopping phenomenon has made its way to Canadian borders. Black Friday is an annual shopping event in the US just after Thanksgiving. Now, retailers from across Canada are also taking part in this huge blowout event, including Edmonton.

Black Friday poster at Atmosphere, South Edmonton Common

“It has gained traction in Canada for the past four or five years. Since then, it has become more and more relevant here at home. Sales are getting deeper in physical stores because local retailers are having to compete with online companies like Amazon,” said Surjit Rai, a marketing expert at NAIT.

Surjit Rai, marketing expert

Retailers across Edmonton are gearing up for this major event. According to Rai, we will see a lot more companies using these marketing strategies to promote their brands this year:

• Free delivery / Free shipping
• Free Installation
• Higher lending rates
• Longer store hours
• In store and online discounts
• Fliers
• Emails

Some of the major shopping malls in Edmonton are also extending their hours on Black Friday.

Although Black Friday does take money away from people’s pockets, it brings a positive impact to Edmonton’s economy.

“When you and I spend money, it starts filtering its way throughout the economy. It encourages a lot of jobs,” Rai explained.

Jomari Denuro, a commision-based associate at Southtown Hyundai is just one of many employees that will benefit from this year’s Black Friday event.

Jomari Denuro, sales associate

“If I don’t sell anything, I don’t make anything so having events like this really helps,” said Denuro.

Rai says, some local retailers choose to keep their deals a secret from consumers until Black Friday to prevent them from comparing prices from other brands, but employees at Southtown Hyundai are doing the opposite.

“Dealerships have been doing Black Friday sales for a long time now. Most dealerships do it every year but this year at Hyundai, we started a week earlier to get ahead of the pack. We tried to do it a week earlier because on the actual day, people are going to be out shopping. Car dealerships are going to be the last place they would want to spend their time in,” explained Denuro.

Black cars on sale for Black Friday

Though Black Friday has gained a lot of traction in Canada, Canadian retailers remain to offer better discounts on Boxing Day.

“Black Friday is good because it’s pre-Christmas. People can plan some of their purchases but the problem is not a lot of us do that. A lot of us don’t plan our purchases.  A lot of the items bought on Black Friday tend to be impulse purchases so retailers don’t really offer as big of a discount as they would on Boxing Day,” said Rai.

Black Friday falls on November 24 this year.

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