{"id":317719,"date":"2025-12-01T04:20:20","date_gmt":"2025-12-01T04:20:20","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/317719\/"},"modified":"2025-12-01T04:20:20","modified_gmt":"2025-12-01T04:20:20","slug":"cyber-monday-canadians-search-for-meaningful-budget-friendly-gifts-national","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/317719\/","title":{"rendered":"Cyber Monday: Canadians search for meaningful, budget-friendly gifts – National"},"content":{"rendered":"

With Black Friday behind them and Cyber Monday<\/a> underway, Canadian shoppers are looking for deals, but they\u2019re buying differently this year.<\/p>\n

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Jeff Doucette of Field Agent Canada told Global News that demand for promotions remains strong.<\/p>\n

\u201cNinety per cent of Canadians were looking to purchase and get some deals during Black Friday or right through to the Cyber Monday weekend,\u201d he said. \u201cPeople 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.\u201d<\/p>\n

Even with sales, shoppers say budgets remain tight. The average Canadian plans to spend less than $500 on gifts this year.<\/p>\n

\u201cTheir salaries haven\u2019t necessarily gone up,\u201d said Doucette. \u201cThey don\u2019t have more money to spend just because things are more expensive, so they\u2019re being smarter.\u201d<\/p>\n

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Businesses are feeling the shift as well. Calgary wine shop owner Nathalie Gosselin told Global News that stores are working harder to close sales.<\/p>\n

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\u201cA lot more events, a lot more tastings\u2026 we\u2019re working twice as hard for a very small amount of growth,\u201d she said.<\/p>\n

While Canada\u2019s GDP grew 0.6 per cent in the third quarter<\/a>, unemployment remains high at 7.8 per cent. That economic pressure has many shoppers thinking more about meaning than price.<\/p>\n

\u201cI used to buy lavish gifts,\u201d said Calgary shopper Carla Little, \u201cbut I think that you really have to get smart about how you spend your money.\u201d<\/p>\n

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\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\tAlbertans focused on intention rather than splurging this holiday season\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/p>\n

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\n\t\t\t\t\t\u2018Your Fresh Market\u2019 broccoli florets recalled in six provinces over Salmonella risk\n\t\t\t<\/p>\n

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\n\t\t\t\t\tInvestigators deployed to scene following a train derailment near Cranbrook, B.C.\n\t\t\t<\/p>\n

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Others maintain the best gifts are handmade.<\/p>\n

\u201cI try to put some personal touches: I make Christmas cards, for example, handmade,\u201d said shopper Rod Zillman.<\/p>\n

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Another Calgarian, Kaitlyn Burke, agrees, telling Global News, \u201cArts, crafts\u2026 just making it. I think it\u2019s the effort.\u201d<\/p>\n

Gosselin said many customers are also choosing to support independent retailers during the holiday rush. \u201cThey are very conscientious to make sure that they support local, and that they support us specifically to make sure that we stay in business.\u201d<\/p>\n

New research from the Boston Consulting Group shows nearly half of Canadians feel less financially secure than they did a year ago, and one in three households say they wouldn\u2019t be able to cover their monthly expenses if their income stopped.<\/p>\n

BCG Canada head Kathleen Polsonello told Global News that shoppers are leaning toward essential purchases and Canadian-made products. She also said about 40 per cent of Canadians have used or plan to use AI tools to compare prices and product specifications. Among Gen Z and Millennials, that figure rises to 50 per cent.<\/p>\n

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\n\t\t&copy 2025 Global News, a division of Corus Entertainment Inc.\t<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"With Black Friday behind them and Cyber Monday underway, Canadian shoppers are looking for deals, but they\u2019re buying…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":317720,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[5],"tags":[45,49,48,13235,104111,46,10438],"class_list":{"0":"post-317719","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-business","8":"tag-business","9":"tag-ca","10":"tag-canada","11":"tag-consumer-spending","12":"tag-cyber-monday","13":"tag-economy","14":"tag-holiday-shopping"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/317719","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=317719"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/317719\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/317720"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=317719"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=317719"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=317719"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}