Because people are at home, Kahn said retailers slash prices on merchandise to draw shoppers into stores, offering discounts on big ticket items like televisions, electronics and appliances. Shopping Which cooking appliances are allowed in dorm rooms? What is Black Friday?īlack Friday occurs the Friday after Thanksgiving, a day many businesses have historically considered a paid holiday for employees. From there, the term was used to describe shopping the day after Thanksgiving, and gained momentum with each passing year. Police in Philadelphia complained about an influx of people coming to the city to shop the day after Thanksgiving, calling it a “Black Friday” because they had to control crowds. The first time “Black Friday” specifically referred to shopping the day after Thanksgiving came in the 1950s. Since its 19th century inception, Koehn said the term “Black Friday” has generally been used to describe other bad events or negative situations, like workers not showing up to their jobs the day after Thanksgiving.
It described a financial panic in 1869 that resulted from investors Jay Gould and Jim Fisk driving up gold prices and ultimately causing the market to crash. The term “Black Friday” originally had no connection to shopping, explained Nancy Koehn, a historian and professor at the Harvard Business School.
Shopping Latest launches in tech, kitchenware and more Black Friday, Big Friday, Black Friday again Experts also discussed what to expect during the 2021 holiday shopping season - which may be as unique as last year’s pandemic made it - whether you plan to buy in person or online. Since Black Friday is quickly approaching and retailers are gearing up to once again host sales during the pandemic, we spoke to experts about the history behind the shopping holiday and charted how it’s changed over the years. “But as it’s morphed into a general promotional season, Black Friday itself lost its magic - its sense of urgency.”īlack Friday, the shopping holiday that takes place every year the day after Thanksgiving, falls this year on Friday, Nov. “Black Friday used to be a trigger for people to go to the store,” Kahn said. Instead of having to wait until Black Friday, shoppers could now take advantage of deals during Black November, the broader term experts use to describe the month-long promotions leading up to Black Friday and Cyber Monday. But over the years, what used to define Black Friday - sprinting into stores before sunrise to shop deals that lasted 24 hours only - has changed significantly.Įver since they’ve had to compete with Cyber Monday’s offerings, Black Friday deals have become available earlier and stuck for longer periods of time, Kahn said. Lines wrapped around department stores, violent fights over products and crowds so large they came pouring out of retailers’ front doors all used to be par for the course on Black Friday, remembers Barbara Kahn, a professor of marketing at The Wharton School of the University of Pennsylvania.