Black Friday is a popular holiday that marks the end of Thanksgiving and the start of the Christmas season in the United States. There are discounts at all major retailers across the country.
Many believe that it was named “Black Friday” because of business jargon, which refers to when a company is either financially profitable or in the black.
The first known use of the name was in 1921 and it referred to an entirely different financial turn of events.
These are just a few possible ways that “Black Friday” entered our vocabulary.
What’s Black Friday?
Black Friday, the day after the Thanksgiving Day holiday in November last Thursday, is the largest retail sales day in the United States. It is often considered the official start of the holiday shopping season.
Cyber Monday is a 24-hour online shopping event. It was created to encourage people to shop online.
Why Black Friday Is Important For Ecommerce Retailers?
To kick off the Christmas shopping season, retailers used to offer a wide range of deals in-store on electronics and toys. The shopping frenzy has shifted online in recent years. 2018 was a record year for eCommerce retailers, with $6.2 million in online sales, up 23.6% over the previous year. Online retailers have unprecedented opportunities to increase sales volume and attract new customers as more people are opting to do their pre-holiday bargain hunting online.
- Black Friday shoppers are more likely to shop online than they are in-store. With more people using their mobile devices to make purchases online, it is becoming easier to do so. Black Friday sales are six times more popular than any other Friday.
- eCommerce retailers reported upto 240% and 380% increases in revenue on Black Friday, Cyber Monday and Cyber Monday.
- Online traffic is more than a normal sales day. It increases by 220% during Black Friday and Cyber Monday.
- Flash sales are less effective than all-day sales events.
- Black Friday desktop shoppers spend more than 70% on retailers that offer free shipping
- E-retailers have a great opportunity to clear stock during the five-day shopping bonanza.
For eCommerce sellers looking for new sales opportunities, capturing a portion of the Black Friday market is a great opportunity.
A Financial Disaster
The name was first recorded in the late 19 th century. It is not associated with Christmas or Thanksgiving. It was actually the name of the devastating economic crash.
One investor sought to control the market price by acquiring as much gold as possible in 1869, when gold was still the currency for international trade. The US Treasury issued over $4 million of gold to stop this. This caused a substantial drop in the gold price. This eventually shook Wall Street and led to many Wall Street companies going bankrupt.
To signify the devastating events of that day, the market crashed on Friday, September 9. In this sense, black was used to signify the darkness of the situation.
Similar to what happened in 1929 when the stock market crashed once more, leading to the Great Depression. The day that began it all was Oct. 29, 1929. This Tuesday became known as “Black Tuesday.”
How did Black Friday become America’s most popular shopping day? Surprised to find out that Black Friday’s origins had nothing to do shopping. Janine Doyon, NBCLX, traced Black Friday’s history from 1960 to today.
Traffic Nightmare
We now know that the name was originally used to refer to anguish that wasn’t financially related.
This term, which is attributed to Thanksgiving’s day, was first used more than half a century ago. According to a 1966 article published by “The American Philatelist”, Philadelphia police officers invented the term “Black Friday”.
The article states that “It’s not a term for endearment to (Philadelphia Police)”. “Black Friday” officially opens the Christmas shopping season for Center City. It usually causes massive traffic jams and crowds on the sidewalks, as downtown stores are crowded from opening to close.
This account explains that Black Friday was the day after Thanksgiving because of the overcrowding and traffic jams in the city.
Are you looking for ways to maximize your Black Friday shopping experience? These are some tips that will help you make the most of Black Friday shopping.
Retailers See A Big Financial Win
Others report that the name is a positive sign of profiting businesses. The colors used in business operations was referenced in a 1982 segment of ABC’s “World News Tonight”.
“Some merchants call the day after Thanksgiving Black Friday, because business today can be the difference between red and black on your ledgers,” Dan Cordtz, anchor, said during the episode.
Negative numbers were written in red ink in traditional ledger books. Profit was written in black ink.
Black Friday’s sales frenzy could turn a business‘ entire year around and keep it ‘in the green’.
Retailers still find this day extremely important. Despite COVID-19, Black Friday generated more than $9B in profit for retailers online throughout the country.
