Black Friday: its history and evolution over the years

He Black Friday is the retail industry’s most advertised annual event. Stores and online retailers plan promotions and sales for the event early in the year to prepare huge inventories to sell to eager customers looking for big savings.

The history of the term “Black Friday” began 150 years ago with gold investors, but it wasn’t in November and had nothing to do with retail sales. In later years it became associated with post-war “sick leave”. Thanksgiving Daytraffic, accounting principles and, finally, fabulous discounts.

While Black Friday sales will look a little different this year with the pandemic still raging, it’s that history that has made it the shopping event it has become today.

golden panic

The US financial stock market crashed on Friday, September 24, 1869, due to deliberate manipulation of the price of gold by two investors and the reaction of President Ulysses Grant. Jay Gould and James Fisk tried to succeed in the gold market by eliminating government involvement. When Grant learned of the fraud, he ordered the sale of $4 million worth of federal gold. His move upset Gould and Fisk, but also led to a 20 percent drop in the stock market and a 50 percent drop in gold on what was the original Black Friday.

Unauthorized sick leave

Black Friday was the seventh paid holiday that Baltimore aircraft manufacturer Glenn Martin gave to employees at the company in 1952. Employers at the time were frustrated by the Friday After Thanksgiving illness, which kept many workers home and off work for an extra day. Martin’s company cut its losses by providing the day off as paid leave.

Traffic jams

Wider use of the term “Black Friday” began in the early 1960s within the Philadelphia Police Department. According to him Philadelphia BulletinThe highway police came up with this because all merchandise had to be presented in 12-hour shifts the day after Thanksgiving due to the huge annual traffic jams caused by shoppers in the city.

Finally “in black”

In the late 1980s, retailers promoted the idea of ​​”Black Friday” as a reference to the accounting of companies that ended up making a profit or staying “in the black.” The concept was based on the idea that many companies were in the red from January until the end of November and depended on sales that began after Thanksgiving to survive.

One of the consequences of the accounting change was that stores had to significantly reduce the prices of goods because it was a sell-or-die situation. In many states, blue laws prevented stores from opening on Thanksgiving Day, which also contributed to the excitement among shoppers.

Black Friday Impact

Big sales in crowded stores after Thanksgiving have become a national obsession for both shoppers and observers who have commented on this “commercial frenzy” since the 1960s. However, retailers have avoided promoting Black Friday sales with a positive connotation, which has changed since the mid-2000s.

Stores opened early on Black Friday, first at 6 a.m. and then even earlier when Best Buy, Kohls, Macy’s, Target and other major retailers opened at midnight. In 2012, Walmart opened at 8:00 pm on Thanksgiving Day.

With sales limited to retail stores on this shopping day, crowds competing for goods became an annual spectacle.

According to the National Retail Foundation, 89 million people shopped online and in stores on Black Friday in 2018, up 40 percent from last year. Retail sales on this day were $5.03 billion in 2017 and $6.2 billion in 2018.

Black Friday accounted for 7.1 percent of the money spent by consumers during the holiday season, from Thanksgiving through Christmas, in 2018, according to Numerator. The largest retailers were Walmart, Amazon and Target.

Black Friday is definitely an event where you can get the best discounts. While the deals continue through Christmas, in the 14 largest gift categories tracked by Numerator in 2018, the biggest deals were available on that day. Average discounts across four categories (computers and electronics, small appliances, entertainment and sporting goods) were 37.2 percent on Black Friday and 30 percent during the post-Black Friday holiday shopping season, including Cyber ​​Monday and Cyber ​​Week. “