Black Friday is one of the busiest shopping days of the year. It has a tendency for holiday shoppers to go crazy. But how do you know how it all began?
Many people believe that Black Friday was named after the retailers’ profit margins, which finally went into the black (profit) after being in the red for a year. Although it is true that historically, retailers have recorded their profits and debts in red and black. However, this version of Black Friday’s origin is inaccurate.
Black Friday
Black Friday was first created by Jay Gould, a Wall Street stockbroker, and Jim Fisk on September 24, 1869. They devised a plan to purchase as much gold as possible from the country and then sell it off for a huge profit. This cruel plan led to the stock market collapsing and bankrupting the wealthy and the poor.
How did this term come to be associated with Thanksgiving Day? Canadians can be credited with this. Eaton’s, a Canadian department store, was the first to host a Thanksgiving Day parade in 1905. This parade inspired the Macy’s Thanksgiving Day Parade, which was first held in 1924 to commemorate the success of Macy’s during the Roaring 20s. The parade raised morale and helped boost sales. Retailers unanimously agreed to wait until then before advertising holiday deals.
Brief histories
Local retailers wanted to draw shoppers on that day. They were not happy with the use of “black” in front of a day that has traditionally been used to signify unpleasant events. Black Tuesday was the 1929 stock exchange crash. Black Monday, in 1987, was another day when the stock market experienced a percentage loss that was greater than any other day in 1929.
The holiday was rebranded by retailers as “Big Friday“, but they failed. Later, businesses took the Black Friday Deals 2022 name. They claimed that this was the day when books went from red to black in stores.
Retailers have tried to spread the shopping frenzy across multiple days after a series of injuries, including death. After shoppers ran in uncontrollable hordes to grab the best deals, this was when retailers tried to spread the shopping frenzy over multiple days. Cyber Monday, which is the day to shop online for holiday shopping, is being promoted as Small Business Saturday.
This year’s holiday season started long before Thanksgiving because of the ongoing supply chain disruptions resulting from the Covid-19 pandemic. Toys and electronics may not arrive in time for the holidays due to delays in manufacturing or shipping. Many Americans start holiday shopping before Thanksgiving. The White House’s supply chain task force has been closely working with private companies to speed up the flow of goods.
The day of Thanksgiving
The Friday after Thanksgiving was now synonymous with shopping. But the true reason Black Friday began is due to the Philadelphia police department. The term was first used by the Philadelphia police department in the 1950s to describe the chaos caused by the influx of suburban shoppers to the city. Shoplifters used the chaos to their advantage and stole goods from overcrowded stores. The police couldn’t take the day off and had to work longer hours to control the situation.
The red-to-black theory was developed in 1980 to try to change the negative connotations associated with black Friday’s origins into something positive.
Cyber Monday
The former one-day shopping event has expanded to four days in recent years. Holiday shoppers can also take advantage of Cyber Monday, Small Business Saturday, Sunday, and Sunday to get the best deals. Some even skip Thanksgiving to grab the best deals.
An estimated 174 million Americans shop online and in stores over Thanksgiving weekend. They spend an average of $520 per person. Retailers in the UK predict that Brits will spend approximately PS7 billion on Black Friday purchases and Cyber Monday.
The craziest part? Black Friday is not the busiest day to shop – that honor goes to the Saturday before Christmas.
