A History of Black Friday in Retail
Happy Thanksgiving, I hope you enjoyed the holiday for those reading in the United States. Anyone in retail can immediately tell you their feelings as well as several stories about Black Friday. We love it, we hate it, but I was curious about why it exists and how we have ended up where we are now with this overhyped event, every year after Thanksgiving.
I have many memories of Black Friday at various stages of my career. Even in my first job in a toy store in the late 1980s it was a crazy day. In general and according to ChatGPT, Black Friday is a shopping tradition in the United States that has a modern history dating back to the mid-20th century. It is characterized by massive discounts and sales, often occurring on the day after Thanksgiving. For some, and certainly at its peak, that is an understatement. Retailers and really almost every business that sells something has grasped Black Friday as a promotional event to try to stoke sales.
The term "Black Friday" is believed to have originated in Philadelphia in the 1960s. It was used by police and bus drivers to describe the chaotic and congested streets due to the influx of shoppers and tourists on the day after Thanksgiving. The "black" in Black Friday was said to refer to the transition from being in the red (losing money) to being in the black (making a profit) for retailers. This is most frequently the reason cited for where the name of this day came from.
Looking back to the 1970s and 1980s, Black Friday was an event that drove people to stores, new malls, and mega malls in the 80s that created massive crowds and frenzied shopping. This continued to evolve and grow as retail expanded in the 1990s. Walmart and Target had really broken into the national scene during that time frame and began to dominate the landscape with large scale sales.
I can remember vividly before and after I was in retail looking at the newspaper on Thanksgiving Day for all the ads for the Black Friday sale. Hours were spent looking through those, for research, comparison, and of course, shopping. That was always by far the largest ad stack of the year in the newspaper.
The 1990s really defined what we know of Black Friday, the business shopping day of the year, the best sales, and the kickoff of the Holiday Shopping Season. That has changed more recently as the dynamic from stores to online has begun to shift.
In the early 2000s, door busters became more of a thing pushing to get more people to their store early and capture the most dollars. People would begin lining up early in the morning to be in line to get unbelievable deals on TVs, electronics, kitchen items, and more. Softline and hardline retails both created events that were highlighted by a few rock bottom prices to capture attention and attract the first buyers of the day. Every retailer jumped on board, almost from necessity to be relevant in the space for that entire weekend.
In the early portion of the 2010s, the craziness reached its peak. Retailers were pushing the opening times earlier and earlier, 4am, 3am, until we reached midnight openings, and finally several retailers began opening on Thanksgiving Day in the late afternoon, or evening. People would eat all day, then head to stores to work off the meal with ‘sport-shopping’. This trend attracted many retailers, even those that probably should have stayed out of the fray (I may be speaking from personal experience). Finally, by the late portion of the decade the day, the reality, and the economics began to catch up with everyone. Opening times began to retreat, as workers pushed back on having to work on Thanksgiving Day. And in many cases, retailers used closing again on Thanksgiving as a marketing effort to recognize size their employees.
At the same time, Cyber Monday had become a thing as online shopping began to dominate the scene during this 2010 to 2020 era. Black Friday online offers began hitting earlier in November, and it was as much a website traffic driver as it was an in-store. Suddenly, businesses could be attracting shoppers earlier and trying to get ahead of the Thanksgiving season by offering great deals all month. The official holiday shopping season was now November as a whole, and not after Thanksgiving.
The impact from COVID-19 in 2020 had somewhat of a reset effect on the industry. The online portion of the business became a key driver and continues to dominate. Gone are the stacks of ads in papers or waiting until Thanksgiving to see what the deals would be. A week or two into November and everyone has ‘early Black Friday’ promotions, both in-store and online. Almost any commerce site you go to in November has some mention of Black Friday within it. In fact, anyone selling anything online is likely mentioning something about Black Friday or Cyber Monday at this point. Whether it is a TV, tools, appliances, or a YouTubers special course, it is likely ‘on sale’ for Black Friday or Cyber Monday.
From a consumer standpoint, it is a great month to shop. I certainly take advantage of the savings you can find during this time. I also use this window as a good reminder to get ahead of my holiday shopping. I try to wrap it up (no pun intended) early, so I don’t have to worry about that later in December when a different frenzy begins.
For those of us in retail, we’ve endured a lot over the years in the name of sales for the companies we work for and support. Often, these can be great days to work in stores, especially now that some of the craziness has dialed back and people aren’t trampling each other (quite as much) to get to the item they have to have. But, there is still a fair amount of silliness that happens in the belief that only the best deals happen on this day, or you feel the need to participate in a long-standing symbol of shopping and the holiday season. Good luck to my brothers and sisters in the retail industry. We will survive and it will pass. For those shopping this upcoming holiday weekend, show some kindness, understanding, and patience for those doing their absolute best to serve you during some of the busiest days of the year. I promise your smiles and kinder actions will be far more rewarded than yelling and screaming. It’s the holidays, a time of joy, pass it along while you’re shopping.
One last thing, I’d be remiss if I didn’t mention a standout retailer that has taken a very different approach to the Thanksgiving and Black Friday events, and that is REI. Back in 2015, even at the height of some of the extended hours and crazy deals, they decided to not only remain closed on Thanksgiving, but close on Black Friday as well. They encouraged their employees and others to get out into nature and enjoy the day rather than be in stores shopping. Hats off to them for this decision and making their team more important than the dollars they could be losing on that shopping day. From my point of view, it goes a long way for the loyalty the REI employees show their company, but also their customers. My guess is, especially at this point, REI is not suffering any negative financial consequences, in fact, they may reap even bigger rewards from their loyal team and customers throughout the year. I would love to see that become a trend that catches on when we write the store for the late 2020s and beyond.
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Photo by Tamanna Rumee on Unsplash