New York – The holiday shopping season is in full swing with the much-awaited Black Friday, which marks the start of the post-Thanksgiving retail rush this week.
Gone are the days of midnight mall crowds and doorbuster mayhem, as online shopping and habits developed during the COVID-19 pandemic have made it easier for consumers to shop from the comfort of their homes.
In an attempt to entice hesitant shoppers, retailers have been bombarding customers with ads and early offers for weeks. Despite this, millions of Americans are expected to spend money on Black Friday itself this year, whether it be in stores or through the countless emails promising huge savings.
According to the National Retail Federation and consumer research firm Prosper Insights & Analytics, it is estimated that 183.4 million people will shop in U.S. stores and online between Thanksgiving and Cyber Monday. Of this number, 131.7 million are expected to shop on Black Friday.
However, with the rise of earlier and earlier Black Friday-like promotions, as well as the growing popularity of other shopping events such as Cyber Monday, the holiday spending landscape continues to evolve.
So, when exactly is Black Friday in 2024? It falls on the Friday after Thanksgiving each year, which will be November 29 this year.
The term “Black Friday” has been around for several generations, but it was not always associated with the holiday retail frenzy that we know today. In fact, it was originally used to describe the gold market crash of September 1869. However, its use in relation to shopping the day after Thanksgiving can be traced back to Philadelphia in the mid-20th century, when large crowds would gather for the annual Army-Navy football game and to take advantage of seasonal sales.
Earlier references to the term date back to the 1950s and 1960s, but it wasn’t until the 1970s that it became more widely used. In an interview with The Associated Press in 1975, a Gimbels department store sales manager explained that the term “Black Friday” was used by bus and cab drivers to describe the headaches caused by the large crowds and traffic congestion on that day.
In the 1980s, national retailers began claiming that Black Friday marked the day when they went from operating in the red to in the black, thanks to the surge in holiday demand. However, with the rise of online shopping and the fact that many retail companies now operate in the black at various times of the year, this interpretation should be taken with a grain of salt.
Over the years, Black Friday has evolved from a day of chaotic in-store shopping to a more online-focused event. With the ease and convenience of online shopping, many people now prefer to make their holiday purchases without ever stepping foot inside a store. And while foot traffic at malls and shopping areas has bounced back since the start of the pandemic, e-commerce is here to stay.
In fact, November sales at brick-and-mortar stores peaked over 20 years ago. In 2003, e-commerce accounted for only 1.7% of total retail sales in the fourth quarter, according to Commerce Department data. Today, that number has significantly increased to 17.1%.
Aside from the rise of online shopping, the prices of big-ticket items that used to attract shoppers on Black Friday, such as TVs, have significantly decreased over the years. This means that there is less incentive for people to camp out in front of stores in the hopes of scoring a deal.
While many people will opt to do most of their Black Friday shopping online, projections from the National Retail Federation and Prosper Insights indicate that the majority of Black Friday shoppers (65%) still plan to shop in stores this year.
The concept of Black Friday has also evolved over the years, with retailers now offering deals and promotions well before the actual day. In fact, emails promoting holiday deals now start arriving before Halloween, and Black Friday has become more of a month-long event rather than a one-day sale.
According to Jie Zhang, a professor of marketing at the University of Maryland, this is a marketing technique used by retailers to spread out purchases and give shippers more time to complete orders. This also helps to manage the competition and shipping logistics. Zhang also believes that the five fewer days between Thanksgiving and Christmas this year will not cause significant strain, as retailers would have already taken this into account.
Multiple post-Thanksgiving sales events, such as Small Business Saturday
