Discount Day

How Black Friday Has Changed Over The Years

Photo from Wikimedia Commons / CC BY-NC-ND 2.0

Every year on the last Friday of November, everyone gathers outside the doors of shopping malls and stores preparing for one fateful day: Black Friday. Black Friday is a holiday in which prices at many locations are discounted.

Originally, Black Friday was originally created as a term to describe the Friday in Philadelphia in advance of a national football game, in which residents of the city would rush to stores before the game to buy and steal as much merchandise as possible. This caused police a major headache, and they dubbed the day as Black Friday. This would eventually change to mean the day that buyers could purchase items for a discount in 1985.

Before 2019, Black Friday was a one-day event where people could be seen piling outside doors, some going as far as to pitch tents. Huge price drops of up to 50% off products could be found through many stores, and often, these stores ran out of stock before midday. However, things would quickly take a turn for the worse with the arrival of the Covid-19 Pandemic. 

In 2019, many people ended up in lockdown during Black Friday. Stores were shut down, and potential sale opportunities were lost nationwide. However, while stores saw far less customers, online shopping, like Amazon Prime, had customers immediately rushing to buy. This online shopping sprees caused the rise of Cyber Monday. 

Cyber Monday was essentially the same thing as Black Friday: customers could purchase items for a discounted price. However, Cyber Monday occurred entirely online, so during the ongoing lockdown in 2019, customers would be able to access these cheaper prices from the comfort of their own homes. The convenience of Cyber Monday during the pandemic caused customers to flock to it, and the sales on Cyber Monday increased drastically. 

After the pandemic, some were worried Black Friday would be taken over completely by Cyber Monday. Many companies have shifted from the single day sales to promotional sales through the entire month of November, with sale prices being far more than they were previously. The large crowds waiting outside the doors have disappeared, with customers funneling in and out in a controlled manner. Many blame this on the rise of Cyber Monday, as it is easier to order the same goods for the same cheap prices from the comfort of your home.

Although Cyber Monday has caused a decrease in sales, inflation has had the opposite effect. In recent years, the United States has struggled with inflation. This has caused many to use Black Friday as a crutch to purchase as much food as possible, with statistics showing a slight incline of sales on Black Friday over the last three years. Overall, Black Friday has seen a major decline in customers due to the rise of Cyber Monday, but some of this has been recovered due to inflation.