Black Friday is characterised by halving of prices by many retail and wholesale shops. Buyers are known to spend more on this day, infact many of the buyers would have stocked their money prior so that they spend it on the day for cheap. Two questions have been asked time and time again, What and when is Black Friday?
This article late in coming, must have been published on this year’s Black Friday but completing this piece was a mammoth task.
Several understanding of Black Friday have been proffered and many people have failed to have a clear grasp on how the day come to be.
This write up will join and fill in the puzzle so that the esteemed reader can have a simplified understanding of how the day originated from so that in future, besides partaking in buying or selling cheap products, the reader could be in the picture of what to expecte on the day.
The day which today is known by many as characterised by prices of commodities being sold on almost half of the actual price has been a favourite for shoppers.
Black Friday is a name used for two unrelated occasions. It is now most popularly used in the United States of America (USA) and the rest of the world to refer to the day after Thanksgiving, which is often considered the first day of the holiday shopping season and is known for featuring discounts from retailers.
Black Friday is always the Friday after Thanksgiving, which is always the fourth Thursday in November. In 2023, Black Friday was on November the 24th. In 2024, Black Friday will be November 29.
The name Black Friday is also commonly used to refer to September 24, 1869, the date of a financial panic in the US sparked by gold speculators.
Historically, black has been associated with days of economic stress as opposed to days of booming commercial success.
The first Black Friday occurred in 1869 after financier Jay Gould and railway businessman James Fisk attempted to corner the gold market, which ultimately resulted in financial panic and the collapse of the market.
A little over 60 years later, on October 29, 1929, another stock market crash referred to as Black Tuesday marked the onset of the Great Depression.
The true origin of the post-Thanksgiving Black Friday lies in the sense of black meaning “marked by disaster or misfortune.”
In the 1950s, factory managers first started referring to the Friday after Thanksgiving as Black Friday because so many of their workers decided to falsely call in sick, thus extending the holiday weekend.
About 10 years later, Black Friday was used by Philadelphia traffic cops to describe the day after Thanksgiving because they had to work 12-hour shifts in terrible traffic.
Visitors flocked to the city to start their holiday shopping and, sometimes this popular shopping day coincided with the annual Army–Navy football game.
The term caught on among shoppers and merchants in Philadelphia, and from there it took off nationwide.
Many believe the term Black Friday finds its roots in the sense of black meaning “showing a profit; not showing any losses,” this isn’t actually the case.
The 1980s brought the mythology of Black Friday as we know it today. While the phrases in the black and in the red are used in the business world to describe profits and losses, this explanation for one of the busiest shopping days of the year only came about in the 1980s, about 20 years after the phrase was in regular use.
Today, Black Friday is part of a series of unofficial holidays focused on shopping opportunities at what’s considered the beginning of the holiday season.
This period begins with Black Friday, the oldest and most established of the days. Cyber Monday is a more recent addition, along with Small Business Saturday (the day for buying from small businesses).
The yearly charitable giving campaign known as Giving Tuesday takes place on the Tuesday after Thanksgiving.
Giving Tuesday is an annual event devoted to encouraging people to donate to charitable causes or to volunteer.
From the script the day is not related to underhand dealings, evil spirits nor blood bath but sell of goods at a cheaper price.
Goods owners have the advantage of offloading goods that are not moving I’m their stock as well as those that are about to expire and still get profit considering volumes of sales.
On the other hand, consumers of goods have to buy cheaper goods especially towards the festival season and they will buy more for less.
Maybe the question should be why Black and not White?