The Surprising Ways Shopping Trends Changed In 2022
HALIFAX — You might assume the ever-popular Black Friday is the busiest shopping day of the year, since it’s a day associated with the kinds of sales and deals people crave for their Christmas shopping. But Moneris has crunched the numbers from 2022 and found that people’s buying trends are evolving, particularly in Atlantic Canada.
Moneris says 2022 saw a lot of last-minute shoppers. So many, in fact, that December 22 was the busiest retail shopping day in Canada last year. Black Friday came in second, losing its usual number-one spot.
In terms of online shopping, Cyber Monday was the busiest day, followed by Black Friday. Cyber Monday was also more popular in Atlantic Canada than ever before. New Brunswick, Nova Scotia, and PEI saw Cyber Monday sales grow by more than 10 percent.
David Litwin, a senior communications specialist at Moneris, believes the data show how events like Black Friday are evolving; the big sales are no longer limited to just one big shopping day.
“There could be a number of different things at play when influencing consumer spend behavior but I think the biggest influence might be the fact that between November and December, we’re seeing Black Friday sales starting earlier and lasting longer, and, as a result, consumers’ spending life become more spread out,” Litwin said in an interview with Huddle.
He also noted that 2022 may have been a bit of an anomaly. Close to the holiday season, much of Canada was hit with a serious winter storm that affected travel and shopping schedules nationwide. Then, 2022 was the year of incredibly high inflation.
“There are some unique situations as well with 2022. There was a harsh winter storm that came through Canada and that may have disrupted consumers plans on where they wanted to shop. And, as a result, they may have deferred the purchases until later in the year. At the same time, with elevated inflation consumers are moderating their spend, and therefore they may be changing their shopping habits.”
In terms of overall sales across Canada, 2022’s holiday season was only slightly busier than in 2021. Black Friday sales were up just three percent, Cyber Monday was unchanged, and total sales in November and December were only up three percent.
“Twenty-twenty-two’s holiday season compared to 2021 was definitely busy, but it wasn’t record-breaking,” said Litwin.
The 2022 holiday season may have brought good news for airlines that were hurting in 2021 with all of the health restrictions in place. Moneris found that holiday air travel was up significantly last November and December.
“One of the interesting findings is that with restrictions being lifted, and confidence returning, we’re seeing airline spend increase as well,” said Litwin. “So we compare this holiday season to one before airlines spend has doubled year over year, which is a pretty significant finding.”
Derek Montague is a Huddle reporter in Halifax. Send him your feedback and story ideas: [email protected].
