Black Friday is the last Friday in November and marks the start of the Christmas shopping season. It is the day after Thanksgiving in the United States, and that is where it became popular. Now it is a phenomenon all over the English-speaking world and retail sales on that day and the days around it are manic. The story of its origin has changed significantly over time, blending the sales story as well as a bit of urban legend.
It is thought that initially the local police in Philadelphia used the term Black Friday to describe the chaos on the day after Thanksgiving, when crowds surged into the city for the annual Army vs Navy football game, as well as for the chance to get the Christmas shopping out of the way.
By the 1980s retailers took over the term to describe the last Friday in November as the day they started to make a profit for the year, and celebrated the event by making special offers to encourage shoppers to spend.
At the start of this century, retailers started to open their doors earlier, some even at midnight. Huge crowds gathered, sometimes leading to accidents and arguments.
In 2005, Cyber Monday became a thing as increasingly consumers avoided the shops and bought their bargains online.
Now Black Friday is no longer just one day, nor is it just the USA, as it has spread globally. Some retailers even extend the bargains for a whole month.
There have been some downsides, however. Many people think that retailers use the event to offload their end-of-season or last season’s stock, which would otherwise be hard to clear.
So, the urban myth I heard, that it was traditionally the day slave dealers sold off the slaves they no longer wanted in order to buy fresh new workers is just that – a myth.
Like many others, we use Black Friday deals to buy gifts and necessities, often at a significant discount. For many products, the fact that it is last year’s colour really does not matter. However, if you are after the latest technology, it is probably better to study hard what you are getting before you commit as it is easy to get hoodwinked.
As far as the technology is concerned, if you need some advice before splurging on what appears to be a bargain, just give us a call and we shall do our best to help before you find yourself buying the wrong thing!
