To make the most of Black Friday deals, we opt for a strategy that combines online discounts to save money and access to shopping portals to accumulate more points. So, rather than shopping in person, you can avoid the crowds and queues and do your shopping from the comfort of your own home, earning more points in the process. It’s the perfect time to do your Christmas shopping and find great gifts at affordable prices.
Black Friday deals are available in most product categories: from electronics at Best Buy to sporting goods and travel, there’s something for everyone. Fortunately, shopping portals allow you to earn points on a wide range of product categories, depending on your needs.
If you have a trip to book in the near future, it might make sense to wait until Black Friday and Cyber Monday to book. We’ve rounded up all the best deals in the travel world for you in our 2024 Black Friday Best Deals article.
In Canada, there are several portals where you can earn rewards for your online purchases that you can’t get in physical stores.
The best known are:
Through these portals, you can earn cash back, Aeroplan points, Scene+ points and AIR MILES or Flying Blue miles. And you’ll discover an interesting technique for buying gift cards!
Before you can earn rewards for your online purchases through these various online portals, you need to understand how they work.
Many brands like Amazon, Gap or The Bay are looking to attract customers to their online stores. To do this, they do business with partners such as AIR MILES, Aeroplan, and Rakuten , paying them a commission for the customers they bring in.
Then, once your purchase has been confirmed, AIR MILES, Aeroplan or Rakuten will give you back, in the form of a reward (AIR MILES miles, Aeroplan points or cash back for Rakuten), part of the commission they have earned.
The common rule: your shopping basket must be empty in the online store BEFORE you proceed via one of these portals. Otherwise, the business will consider that these portals didn’t contribute to bringing you in as a customer! And you won’t get your reward (since they won’t have received any commission for the sale).
Therefore, it’s important to go through the portal’s website! Buying directly from Amazon, Best Buy, Walmart or your favourite retailer won’t work.
Rakuten.ca is an online shopping portal offering cash back.
If you use this portal BEFORE shopping at partner online stores, you can earn cash back on your purchases.
Signing up via our referral link gives you a $30 credit!
https://www.rakuten.ca/r/milesopedia
There are often promotions to earn more cash back for purchases at the many retailers listed on Rakuten.ca. Sometimes it is also possible to combine cash back with promotional codes available on Rakuten Canada.
This can rise to 10% or even 20% during special events like Black Friday!
However, pay close attention to the product categories involved for each online retailer.
In fact, it’s not uncommon for promotional percentages to vary. At Best Buy, for example, the special conditions state that no cash back is offered on purchases of:
It’s the same with Amazon.ca; you need to look closely at the cashback earning rates by category, which are indicated on the Rakuten Canada page dedicated to Amazon.
Scene+ and Rakuten are partners and you can now link your accounts to get the equivalent payment of your cash-back in Scene+ points. This becomes interesting as Scene+ members who use Rakuten often benefit from exclusive and higher cashback offers.
However, you will no longer be able to purchase gift cards via Rakuten after linking your account with Scene+.
Remember to register with Rakuten via Milesopedia first (to benefit from the $30 welcome bonus) before linking your accounts!
Rakuten Canada is a great place to earn cash back on online purchases. But it’s also a great place to buy gift cards from a wide range of retailers!
By purchasing gift cards via the Rakuten.ca site (not accessible from the mobile application or to Scene+ members who have linked their account with Rakuten), it is possible to accumulate cash back.
More importantly, it’s a crafty way to use an American Express card in stores that don’t accept them (although this has changed for most IGAs recently).
You can pay for your gift cards with Mastercard, Visa and Paypal, which takes American Express! Some gift cards will be sent by post, while many can be received electronically and used instantly.
Please note that the rewards earned on your credit card for the purchase of a gift card via Rakuten.ca will be that of the basic category. Therefore, it’s not considered a grocery store purchase, even if you buy a grocery store gift card.
So choose the credit card that earns the most points or discounts in any category.
Still, it’s a convenient way to earn rewards with your American Express card without changing grocery stores. American Express cards are accepted at Métro and Super C, and most IGA stores. Or to unlock a welcome bonus!
If you do your grocery shopping at Métro or Super C, it’s best to use the American Express Cobalt® Card or the Scotiabank American Express® Card. They’re among the best credit cards to use at the grocery store.
The Aeroplan eStore is the online shopping portal of the Aeroplan loyalty program. By using this portal BEFORE shopping at partner online stores, you can earn at least 1 Aeroplan Point for every dollar spent.
There are often promotions that allow you to earn additional Aeroplan Points for purchases at stores listed on the eStore.
This can range from 2x to 10x points and even more. At certain times of the year, such as the days around Black Friday and Cyber Monday, there are interesting promotions at the eStore.
These promotions can concern:
To earn even more Aeroplan points on your purchases, you’ll need an Aeroplan-linked credit card available from American Express, CIBC or TD!
Here are some cards that offer a different accumulation:
Occasionally, Aeroplan co-branded credit cards offer additional bonus points on your Aeroplan eStore purchases, allowing you to double dip and quickly multiply your points on every dollar spent.
A shopping portal offers Flying Blue miles for your online shopping with partners such as Apple, Indigo, Nike, Sephora, etc.
For your first purchase on the portal, you can earn 500 Flying Blue Miles.
The way it works is similar to other online shopping portals: you need to log-in to the portal, choose the merchant you are interested in and click on the corresponding link.
Make sure your shopping cart is empty before you do this!
Please note that Air France KLM World Elite Mastercard® holders also have dedicated offers (inCard and eShop) to earn more Flying Blue Miles through their purchases.
Club Boomerang is the online shopping portal launched by François Charron.
By going through this portal BEFORE you shop at partnering online stores, you will be able to get cash back as well as coupons for discounts.
Here’s how to take advantage of it:
To double dip and save even more, pay for your purchases with a cash back credit card like the CIBC Dividend® Visa Infinite* Card!
By subscribing to one of the KOHO Essential, Extra or Complete packages, you’ll benefit from access to an online shopping platform integrated directly into your KOHO application, allowing you to receive up to 50% cash back on your purchases!
Simply look at the offers available directly in the KOHO app before you make your purchase, to find out how to get the extra cash back. Once you’ve completed your purchase, you’ll receive your cash back within 30 to 60 days.
The KOHO online shopping portal features over 1,000 brands, some of which offer up to 50% cash back.
airmilesshops.ca is the online shopping portal for the AIR MILES Loyalty Program.
By using this portal BEFORE shopping at online partner stores, you can earn 1 mile/$20 on your purchases.
However, it is possible to earn more AIR MILES miles through various promotions:
On a regular basis, AIR MILES miles collectors receive promotions allowing them to earn a fixed number of AIR MILES miles after a certain amount of purchases at airmilesshops.ca.
Like in this example: 95 AIR MILES miles after an initial purchase of $20 on Amazon via airmilesshops.ca .
Regularly, AIR MILES partner stores offer mileage accumulation promotions via a multiplier.
For example, if it says you’ll earn 5 X the miles, that means:
Which means 5 miles/$20 of purchases.
Knowing that 1 mile = $0.105, 5 miles = $0.53.
This gives a cash return of 2.6% in this example ($0.53 / $20).
Sometimes, AIR MILES also offers a multiplier on the entire airmilesshops.ca portal.
The multiplier offered by the retailer and that offered by airmilesshops are added to the basic offer:
In the example above with Altitude Sports, if it says you’ll win:
This gives you a total of 5 x + 11 x = 16 x miles.
This means that:
That’s 16 miles / $20 in purchases.
Knowing that 1 mile = $0.105, 16 miles = $1.68.
This gives a cash return of 8.4% in this example ($1.68 / $20).
Here is another example.
For a $120 purchase at The Bay, with a multiplier of 3 X for The Bay, and 20 X on the entire airmileshop site:
Then, we add up:
For a grand total of 138 miles earned on a $120 purchase, or 23 X miles! This has a value of approximately $14.50 (or 12%).
To earn even more AIR MILES miles on your purchases, your best choice is to use a credit card linked to the AIR MILES program!
Here are two cards with different earning rates:
When you make a purchase directly at an AIR MILES partner (Shell, Jean Coutu, IGA, etc), the accumulation is even more generous:
By using online shopping portals at key times such as back-to-school, Black Friday for Christmas shopping or other promotional events to make major purchases such as a cell phone or laptop, it’s possible to pick up a large number of rewards and cash back from your favorite retailers, without having to go to the store. With a little preparation, this kind of promotional event can become the ideal moment to multiply your rewards.
Black Friday discounts begin in November, in the days and weeks leading up to the day of Black Friday, making it the ideal time to do your Christmas shopping. Each company decides when to launch its special offers.
Black friday is a shopping event in Quebec and Canada, and offers discounts and deals in stores and online.
In Quebec and Canada, Black Friday will take place on November 29, 2024, the same date as in the United States.
Black Friday always takes place the day after Thanksgiving in the U.S., which this year is November 29, 2024.
Savings are here:
