Black Friday & Cyber Monday Canada: Track Prices, Don't Guess

Most major retailers now run Black Friday pricing for most of November, not just the one Friday, and some of those early markdowns move again as the actual date gets closer. That spread makes it harder to tell whether the price in front of you right now is the event's real low point or just the opening offer. Waiting doesn't automatically get you a better price, and buying early doesn't automatically mean you missed one; the only way to know is to look at what the item has actually done.

Cyber Monday deals are online-only, so there's no in-store availability to worry about, but that doesn't make the price any more trustworthy. The same regular-price inflation that shows up around Boxing Day applies here too: a retailer can raise a price in October so the Cyber Monday cut looks larger than it is. Price history is still the only way to tell a real discount from a marketing one, whether the deal is in a store or only online.

• Set alerts in early November, not the week of.That way you catch whichever moment the price actually bottoms out, instead of assuming it's the Friday itself.
• Check price history before every purchase, even on the day. A compressed shopping window pushes people toward snap decisions; a chart takes the guessing out of it in a few seconds.
• Compare Black Friday against Cyber Monday on the same item.They're not always priced the same, and the bigger cut isn't always on the day with the bigger name.

ShelfAware tracks price history and in-store stock across 13 Canadian retailers, free, with no account required just to check a price. Browse today's clearance deals or search a product to see its price history before the event even starts. The rest of the year, most markdowns never make a flyer at all.