Today is BLACK Friday of 2013

Customers shop for electronics items during a past 'Black Friday' at a Best Buy store in California. The shopping frenzy that began in the United States on the day after Thanksgiving is sweeping the world.

Black Friday 2013 deals set to sweep the planet.

 

“First America, then the world” looks to be the rallying cry for Black Friday 2013, which after taking Canada and Australia by storm last year has spread into the U.K., despite the lack of any Thanksgiving holiday there. And in Canada, the shopping contagion is now threatening to eclipse that of our own Boxing Day, a holiday not taken in the U.S.

 

 

“There is only so much money that is going to go around, even as we are all increasing our consumer debt,” said Richard Talbot, president of Victoria-based retail consultancy Talbot Consultants International Inc., of the ever-growing retail and online deals bonanza a day after U.S. Thanksgiving.

About 47% of Canadians plan to shop on Friday, up from 41% a year ago, according to the 2013 BMO Holiday Spending Outlook. In the meantime, 59% said they would shop at Boxing Day sales on Dec. 26, compared with 62% in 2012.

 

Canadian retailers were pretty much forced to hop on the Black Friday bandwagon in earnest two years ago in an attempt to keep consumers from crossing the border to take advantage of U.S. promotions at par, and they stepped up their efforts again after Canada introduced more generous duty free limits for cross-border shoppers last year.

 

Staff at the Amazon Swansea fulfilment centre in Wales process orders as they prepare for their busiest time of the year — 'Black Friday' and 'Cyber Monday'