Last year Visualping tracked the daily prices of 2,500+ products from Canadian retailers from October 1 through Cyber Monday and found that a third of the items sold as Black Friday and Cyber Monday deals had been cheaper earlier in the season. On average those were still 37% above the lowest price it recorded for them.
Some products were much riskier than others. 61% of luggage deals and half of microwave deals had been cheaper earlier in the season, while video game consoles (14%) and backpacks (4%) were the safest bets.
For consumers, the findings could help them go into the season with a plan rather than reacting to every Black Friday “discount” they see. One simple habit is to start tracking the price of anything on their shopping list now with Visualping or another price tracker. By the time the sales arrive, they’ll know what the product usually costs and can tell whether a Black Friday price is actually a good deal.
Tracking product prices
Visualping’s Head of Marketing and GTM, Eric Do Couto, said Visualping was used to monitor over 2,500 product pages at nine major Canadian retailers every day from October 1 through Cyber Monday, recording every price change straight from the retailers’ own sites.
“For the 1,659 products whose price changed, we compared the Black Friday weekend price with the lowest price we’d recorded for that product since October 1. If it matched or beat that low, it was a genuine deal, and if it was higher, the product had been cheaper earlier in the season. About a third fell into that second group, and on average they were still 37% above their lowest recorded price,” he said.
Advertising lower prices
Black Friday has become one of the biggest shopping events of the year, and retailers promote it heavily because shoppers expect deals and are ready to buy. In the Retail Council of Canada and Leger’s 2026 holiday survey (https://www.retailcouncil.org/press-release/canadians-plan-with-purpose-put-loved-ones-first-and-shop-smart-for-value/), 88% of Canadians ranked Black Friday among their top three shopping days, and 43% said they put off purchases during the year to wait for major sale days, noted Do Couto.
“But a Black Friday sale isn’t necessarily the best sale of the season, and it can match or even fall short of a discount the same product had in October. Unfortunately for shoppers, it’s difficult to tell if the sale is really a good deal or not without seeing the product’s price history,” he said.
Why certain products have lower prices
In 2025, 61% of luggage deals and half of microwave deals had been cheaper earlier in the season, compared with 14% for video game consoles and 4% for backpacks, said Do Couto.
“Our data tracks what prices did, not how retailers set them, so we can’t say for certain why those categories differ. What it does show is that the category matters, since for some products waiting for Black Friday paid off and for others an earlier sale was the better buy,” he said.
Practical steps for consumers
Do Couto said consumers should pick the products they plan to buy and start tracking their prices with a price tracker like Visualping, which checks each product page for you and sends an alert whenever the price changes.
“By the time Black Friday arrives, you’ll have a price history for every item and can see right away whether the sale price is the lowest it’s been or a repeat of an earlier discount. Ideally, start tracking as soon as possible, since in our 2025 data the prices that beat Black Friday showed up in October and early November. If you’re starting now, a few weeks of tracking still gives you enough history to evaluate a Black Friday price,” he said.
Differences or trends expected this year
This year the company has been checking more than 3,000 products every day since early October, at retailers in both Canada and the U.S.
“Similar to last year, we’ll be looking at the share of genuine Black Friday deals versus non-genuine deals and which categories offer real savings. New this year, we’re also checking whether a price went up before the sale and then came back down to look like a discount. We’ll publish the first results on Black Friday, November 27,” said Do Couto.
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