In years past, holiday shopping for Canadians meant going to the local mall or store a few weeks before Christmas, picking out an item for an intended recipient and making a purchase — likely at full price. In recent years, however, this has changed.

The spread of American "shopping holidays" such as Black Friday and Cyber Monday to the north have offered Canadians a chance to save in the weeks leading up to the holidays. This year's Black Friday and Cyber Monday broke several records, and shoppers are completing their holiday shopping at discounted rates.

Where does this leave Canadian retailers, though? And looking ahead, how will this affect Boxing Day, Canada's original discounted day of shopping? Let's take a look.

The introduction of shopping holidays to Canada originated with some cross-border tourism. Canadians would make a trip down to the States on the American Thanksgiving holiday or the following day — Black Friday — to join in on the frenzy of discounted goods that marks the start of the holiday season.

The Financial Post notes that the rise of Black Friday among Canadians began around 2009, when the dollar was almost at parity with the American dollar. By 2013, it was a full-fledged event in Canada, with more shoppers staying in their home country, lining up outside local stores or placing online orders.

Black Friday is often followed by a weekend of deals, with Cyber Monday serving as one last push from retailers to sell their products. The "Cyber" notion of the day stems from the desire to clear out online inventory after traditional brick-and-mortar stores have been pillaged by shoppers.

However, with online shopping becoming commonplace over the past decade, Cyber Monday no longer refers to "online deals, today only" as much as it means "another day of deals, possibly better than what you saw on Black Friday." How can shoppers turn this down?

Online shopping certainly surged in the States this past Cyber Monday — Fortune reported that sales hit an all-time record, with $3.45 billion spent online — erasing any economic slowdowns experienced following the recent election. However, Canadian retail statistics have started to roll in, and have been somewhat surprising, given the rapid expansion of these busy shopping days.

Statistics Canada compiled numbers from 2006-2014, and not surprisingly, demonstrated that Black Friday in Canada didn't quite impact retail figures those years. They went to say that sales toward the end of the year had always been increased because of the holidays, regardless of how Black Friday or Cyber Monday fared.

However, they pointed to an interesting shift in the types of products being purchased by Canadians during the month of November in recent years — mainly among clothing, electronics, appliances, books, music and hobby goods. The growth in electronics sales, especially, may have Black Friday and Cyber Monday to thank. Their outlook recognized areas of growth, but seems to remain cautious for what lies ahead.

The Montreal Gazette builds on this, projecting that in Canada, only 2 per cent of retail sales were made online in the first nine months of 2016. They have yet to account for any recent shopping activity, and note that e-commerce activity in Canada seems to be lagging by one or two years. As such, the growth of online shopping should grow in the years to come, as consumers weigh the benefits of shopping online versus in-store.

Consider this scenario: On a day like Black Friday, looking for a parking spot at a busy mall, fighting to get through crowds or lining up at midnight waiting for a store to open may entice shoppers to stay home and order online instead. It's already happening and has forced malls to up their food court game and other amenities in an attempt to keep shoppers coming back.

Looking ahead to Boxing Day, it will be interesting to see how Canadians' supposed cool response to Black Friday and Cyber Monday will turn around, if at all. Despite conflicting statistics, the Financial Post did point out that Canadian shoppers spent 25.8 per cent more on Black Friday than on Boxing Day in 2015.

It will be interesting to see whether shoppers will increase their spending in the month of December, in addition to Boxing Day. It certainly looks that way.

Canada Post is predicting another record-breaking holiday season, and points to a strong December leading up to Boxing Day. They cite that Dec. 12 will be their busiest delivery day of the year, with 3,500 parcels to be delivered every minute, and 7 million more packages being delivered than in 2015. That's still quite a bit, despite taking the Montreal Gazette's 2 per cent online shopping statistic into consideration.

Without a doubt, Black Friday and Cyber Monday will continue to grow in Canada in the years to come. Will Boxing Day ever lose its fire? It's unlikely that Canadians will quickly forget about it, but shopping trends could force retailers and consumers alike to shift their expectations and behaviours.

On record, we've only been "celebrating" Black Friday since 2013. If online shopping in Canada has been lagging, then surely retailers are in for a boost when it does become more prevalent.

A few more years should give a better depiction of what's to come, but for now Canadians seem to be enjoying multiple opportunities for discounted merchandise.