One in four Canadian shoppers overshot their Black Friday budget

One in four Canadian shoppers blew past their budgets on Black Friday and Cyber Monday, according to a new survey.

The online survey — conducted by the Angus Reid Forum on behalf of FP Canada, the national professional body that certifies Canadian financial planners — found the average Canadian spent about $385 in total between the two retail events this year.

While 60% of the shoppers surveyed said they stayed on budget, 23% said they overspent significantly (by more than $250 on average.)

Those who did go overbudget said they spent, on average, more than three times as much as they’d planned to.

Shoppers in Saskatchewan and Manitoba were most likely to be frugal, spending an average of $266 during Black Friday and Cyber Monday — nearly a third less than the national average.

Alberta shoppers were the most likely to overspend, with one-third saying they spent more than they had planned and nearly 15% saying they spent more than $500.

For those who struggled to stick to their budgets, the impact of the first major spending event of the holidays could lead to less cash on hand this holiday season and more credit card debt as they head into 2022, said Tashia Batstone, president and CEO of FP Canada in a news release.

She added the survey shows that, on average, Canadians expect to carry $814 more in credit card debt into the new year than they had before the holiday spending season.

“With more bricks-and-mortar stores open due to easing pandemic restrictions, it’s easy to understand the temptation to spend,” Batstone said.

“But it’s important for Canadians to be diligent about getting back on track financially if they’ve gone a little overboard already this holiday season.”

The online survey of 1,511 Canadians was completed between Nov. 30 and Dec. 1 among members of the online Angus Reid Forum.

The polling industry’s professional body, the Canadian Research Insights Council, says online surveys can’t be assigned a margin of error because they don’t randomly sample the population.

Amanda Stephenson, The Canadian Press

Amanda Stephenson is a reporter with The Canadian Press, a national news agency headquartered in Toronto and founded in 1917.