In the United States, the day after Thanksgiving has become known as Black Friday and is considered the official kick-off for holiday shopping. Retailers across the country slash prices offer doorbuster deals on popular big-ticket items, and often open in the wee hours of the morning to extend early bird specials.
Dedicated and thrifty shoppers line up outside the stores to be the first to grab that special deal or this season’s popular and hard-to-find gift.
- 1869 -the term described the dread of employees who would potentially be without jobs on a Friday. It also reflected the darkest and widest spread of financial impacts – the fall of Wall Street. The Black Friday of 1869 may be the earliest use of the term.
- 1950s – The term wasn’t used again until the 1950s in Philadelphia when police used the term to describe the chaos that ensued when suburban shoppers and tourists would flood into the city for the big Army-Navy football game every year
- 1952 – Black Friday has a longer history than its shopping holiday counterparts, as it has been regarded as the beginning of the Christmas holiday season since 1952 when the idea of shopping for Christmas gifts ahead of time became a popular concept
- 1961 – Philadelphia retailers decided “If you can’t beat ‘em, join ‘em,” turning a negative into a positive by way of reinvention.
- 1980 – the term Black Friday had a more ominous term in sports. It was considered a curse. For example, in 1981, on March 13th (an unlucky Friday) the 76ers lost for the second Friday the 13th in a row. Sportswriters used the term Black Friday about their bad luck.
- 2001 – Black Friday wasn’t officially claimed to be the busiest shopping day of the
year, until 2001. - 2011 – Walmart broke the tradition of Black Friday shopping when Walmart opened up its store on the evening of Thanksgiving.
- These days, 33 million Americans plan to run out shopping as soon as they finish their Thanksgiving feast. This is known as Gray Thursday.
- 2017 – Black Friday online sales reached $5.03 billion, a 16.9 percent increase from 2016.
- 2017 – Amazon takes in a whopping 45.1% of all online sales, which is three times more than Walmart – Amazon’s biggest competitor.
- 2018 – Amazon and Walmart were the places to grab the best Black Friday deals.
- 2019 – Based on preliminary data provided by Black Friday.com, 61% of the buying public shopped on Black Friday last year.
- 2021 – Roughly 155 million Americans shopped on Black Friday and 88 million folks shopped online.
- The origin of Black Friday is derived from the enormous amount of sales retailers report which can often bring their profits into the black. Black in accounting is used to describe a business making a profit as opposed to being in the red denoting losses.
- The average Black Friday shopper will spend $674.
- Store Credit Card Applications Increase Around Black Friday.
- Many stores offer same-day discounts at sign-up, according to a survey by CreditCards.com.
- Walmart (33.8%0, Target (11.5%), and Best Buy (10.1%) account for more than half (55%) of Black Friday searches. Kohl’s (8.1%) and Amazon (8.%) round out the top 5.
- 40% of Online Shoppers Make Purchases from a Smartphone
- Black Friday is the busiest day of the year for plumbers. Roto-Rooter says they receive the most calls on Black Friday, specifically for kitchen sinks, garbage disposals, and toilets.
- While many products will see savings of anywhere between 20% and 60%, the average savings on Black Friday specials is 37%.
- Finder forecasts that 58% of American adults will shop Black Friday sales.
- The top three most commonly searched products are all tech: PS5 (21%), Nintendo Switch (18%) and iPhone (17%).
- One of the places you will see some of the biggest savings on your Black Friday journey is with travel-related items. This category will see an average of 60% discounts and focus on items such as luggage and travel conveniences.
- While females still lead the pack in terms of Black Friday, males have been slowly closing the gap each year with 50.4 % of females being Black Friday shoppers and 45.1% being males.
- It’s not the busiest shopping day of the year. The Saturday before Christmas is!
- If you dare to wait, the last few days of the shopping season often advertise products 10 to 15 percent cheaper than on Black Friday.
- On average, shoppers will wait 2.5 hours in line for a deal.
- Many online sales discounts are better on Thanksgiving Day for items such as sporting goods and apparel. The average discount is 24 percent.
- The days from Thanksgiving through Cyber Monday capture 20 percent of all holiday online shopping.
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