Has it ever crossed your mind as to how Black Friday claimed its way to fame? Black Friday is jotted down in majority of individual’s calendars due to the fact that most products are sold for much less than any other sale. Queues will stretch as far as a few metre outside the store where people will line up in the early hours of the morning to purchase whatever is on sale. The social frenzy takes place every year during the last week of November.
Major retailers stocking appliances, clothing and even food cuts their prices to all time lows that normally extends to the following week – which is called Cyber Monday. There are few that aren’t aware of how the sale slashing day came about. The blog will cover most of the important aspects around Black Friday. With the current COVID-19 pandemic hanging over us, especially over the festive, maybe Black Friday can bring some sort of satisfaction to each and every one of us. Whether it be looking out for the latest television set to stream sports or content creation tools for the avid content creators. There is something for each and every one of us. Let’s dive into the history!
With the current COVID-19 pandemic hanging over us, especially over the festive, maybe Black Friday can bring some sort of satisfaction to each and every one of us. Whether it be looking out for the latest television set to stream sports or content creation tools for the avid content creators. There is something for each and every one of us. Let’s dive into the history!
How did Black Friday start?
The first mentions of Black Friday came about the 1950’s – 1960’s. It is believed that businesses were ‘in the red’ with regards to financial figures, following Thanksgiving with sales allowing them to improve those figures, but the idea or belief is not necessarily true. The term is linked to an event which involved the Philadelphia police officers trying to control an outbreak. The phrase ‘Black Friday’ describes the chaotic event where tourists visited in order to do their holiday shopping and, in some years attended the annual Army -Navy football game. The huge crowds created havoc for the police officers that had to deal with traffic jams, shoplifting, accidents accompanied with longer shifts.
Within a few years, the term started rooting in Philadelphia. Even though ‘Black Friday’ sounds as if it has a dark, dull and dreadful connotation to it, it actually signifies a positive boost in sales or profits. It was only until the 1980’s where the narrative started to spread. The term came from the black ink assuming from the notes when they counted profits by hand.
Over the years, Black Friday has been escorted with various other shopping holidays that includes Small Business Saturdays that encourages supporting locals and Cyber Monday that promotes online shopping. On an unrelated note to shopping, the earliest use of the term ‘Black Friday’ stretches back to 1869. The was a plummet in Gold which caused the market to crash. The after effects of the crash played severely with US economy.