Black Friday

Black Friday is the day after the U.S. Thanksgiving holiday and is widely considered the start of the holiday shopping season. Retailers promote deep discounts on electronics, toys, clothing, and other gift items; consumers flock to stores and websites for limited-time offers. Sales activity around Black Friday is often used as a short-term indicator of consumer confidence and holiday spending.

Key takeaways

• Black Friday marks the day after Thanksgiving and traditionally signals the start of peak holiday shopping.
• Retailers use doorbusters and steep discounts to drive traffic, often combining in-store and online promotions across a multi-day “Black Weekend.”
• Cyber Monday (the Monday after Thanksgiving) focuses on online deals and complements Black Friday; Small Business Saturday encourages local shopping.
• Economists and investors sometimes use Black Friday sales as a gauge of discretionary spending, though its predictive power for broad markets is limited.

What is Black Friday?

Black Friday refers to the post-Thanksgiving shopping day when many retailers offer major promotions. Originally concentrated in physical stores, the event now spans online and in-store sales, often extending from Thanksgiving through the following weekend. Marketing campaigns, early previews, and extended deals have made the period a multi-day retail event rather than a single day.

Origins and name

Retailers have held post-Thanksgiving sales for decades, but the term “Black Friday” has two main origin stories:
* Bookkeeping origin: “Black” refers to profitability—accounting records traditionally used red ink for losses and black ink for profits, so a strong sales day could put retailers “in the black” for the year.
* Philadelphia origin: In the mid-20th century, Philadelphia police used the term to describe heavy crowds and traffic the day after Thanksgiving, when shoppers and visitors flooded the city for sales and a weekend football game. The phrase later spread and was adopted more broadly.

An earlier, unrelated use of “Black Friday” described the 1869 U.S. gold-market crash, when gold prices collapsed and stocks tumbled.

How retailers use Black Friday

Retailers plan Black Friday promotions months in advance to:
* Move overstock and seasonal inventory.
* Offer “doorbuster” deals—deep discounts on high-demand items (often electronics) meant to attract shoppers.
* Cross-sell higher-margin items once customers are in store or on site.

Competition for limited-quantity items can be intense. High demand has, in the past, led to crowding and safety incidents, prompting many stores to improve crowd-control and security measures.

Evolution into a multi-day event

Black Friday has evolved from a single-day retail phenomenon to a longer shopping period:
* Many retailers now start promotions on Thanksgiving evening or earlier in the week.
* The rise of online shopping has blurred the lines between Black Friday and Cyber Monday, producing continuous deals throughout the weekend.
* The period now includes Small Business Saturday to encourage patronage of independent local shops.

Black Friday vs. Cyber Monday

• Black Friday: Traditionally focused on in-store deals but increasingly includes significant online promotions. High traffic in both channels.
• Cyber Monday: The Monday after Thanksgiving, created to highlight online deals and capture shoppers returning to work after the holiday. It remains a major online sales day, complementing Black Friday rather than replacing it.

Economic significance

Black Friday sales figures provide a useful snapshot of consumer willingness to spend on discretionary items. Analysts and retailers monitor:
* Traffic and sales trends across categories (electronics, apparel, toys, etc.).
* Average spend per shopper and where consumers allocate purchases (gifts vs. personal items).

While strong Black Friday sales can indicate healthy consumer sentiment, most experts view its market implications as short-term; the event rarely predicts broader, long-term market movements. Markets also experience holiday-related trading patterns—some traders observe modest gains ahead of major holidays—but these phenomena are distinct from retail sales data.

Safety and controversy

Historic incidents—crowd surges, fights over limited items, and a few fatal accidents—have drawn criticism of extreme promotional tactics. As a result, many retailers have:
* Adopted online reservation and curbside pickup options.
* Staggered opening times and limited doorbuster quantities.
* Increased security and crowd-management protocols.

Conclusion

Black Friday remains a cornerstone of the U.S. holiday shopping season, combining steep discounts, heavy consumer traffic, and prominent marketing. It has grown from a single day into a multi-day retail period that includes in-store and online components. While it offers bargains to shoppers and revenue opportunities for retailers, its broader economic signals are useful but limited; trending sales across the holiday period provide the best real-time view of consumer behavior.