The latest Black Friday numbers are out by Salesforce indicating sales in Canada rose year-over-year.
The numbers showed big growth in sales, AI-influenced sales as well as a surge in “Buy Now Pay Later”.
Black Friday Results | Key Findings for Canada:
- Black Friday sales in Canada grew 6% YoY, reaching $865M USD
- Average discounting rose to 28% (up from 27% last year)
- $173M USD in Canadian Black Friday online sales were influenced by AI and digital agents
- AI-search-referred traffic:
- AI-search-referred-traffic increased 5x compared to last year’s Black Friday
- Conversion rates from AI search are 4x higher than social, showing AI’s strength in product discovery
- Social and Mobile:
- Social traffic share was 12%, down from 13% last year
- Mobile traffic share decreased to 74% from 75%
- Mobile order share increased to 60%, up from 57% last year
- Payment Shares:
- Buy Now, Pay Later shares grew from 2.8% to 5.1% this year
- Mobile Wallet Pay increased from 16% to 18% this year
- Both these channels are taking share from the traditional payment channels, Credit card/Debit Card, whose shares decreased from 80% last year to 75% this year
Caila Schwartz, Director of Consumer Insights, Salesforce Spend Insights, said: “Canadian Black Friday sales were strong, growing 6% year-over-year to a total of $865 million, suggesting the consumer is certainly still spending, but that growth comes with a clear warning sign. Shoppers are relying heavily on flexible financing to afford those deep discounts. The use of ‘Buy Now, Pay Later’ plans surged dramatically, with its share of payments nearly doubling from 2.8% to 5.1% this year. This shows that while retailers successfully drove purchases with aggressive deals, the Canadian consumer’s holiday budget is clearly stretched, forcing them to lean into debt just to ease the cost of shopping.”
“AI took centre stage in Canada during Black Friday. Evolving from a helpful add-on to a critical value driver for retailers, with AI-search-referred traffic surging 5x year-over-year,” she added.
Here are some key insights from Salesforce on shopping from Thursday just before Black Friday:
- Online sales were strong on Thursday with sales up 10% YoY.
- Order volumes were up 9% YoY, indicating strong demand.
- Units per transaction also increased 15% YoY with consumers not only placing more orders, but also buying more items at checkout.
- Discounts were strong heading into the Black Friday event, with Thursday discount rates averaging 30%, up 15% over last year.
- Thanks to large discounts, the average selling price in Canada fell 12% YoY.
“The Canadian consumer is converting at rates we haven’t seen in years. By offering discounts up 15% over last year, retailers successfully dropped the average selling price by 12%. This focus on value is unlocking massive demand: not only are shoppers placing more orders, but they are buying 15% more units at checkout. The message is clear: great prices are the engine driving Canada’s strong start to Cyber Weekend,” said Schwartz.
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