10 Interesting Facts about Black Friday you might not Know

The holiday season is just around the corner and shopping forms an integral part of the holidays. Black Friday being one of the important days for shoppers around the world. It used to be a US event which now has become a global event. It is famous for the extravagant deals and offers that make shoppers around the globe spend large sums on shopping. You can get electronics, home improvement gadgets, ergonomic office equipments, clothings and others. It might be the shopping paradise for early christmas shopping it is not how it begun.

With Black Friday edging closer, we can take a moment to look back at the stories and myths surrounding the ever popular shopping day. There is no such written document to proof the day as known today. We can have our own interpretation to the day but it is definitely the day for shopper’s delight with great deals and offers just before the holiday season. However, we cannot deny some of the stories that has been there for ages leading up to the black friday. Some stories are mystic while some are little darker to the rather joyous merry making day. First, we will come up with some surprising numbers on Black Friday that you might have missed.

Fascinating Stats on Black Friday

Black Friday is a happening day of the year where million of shoppers part with their cash in search of great deals and offers just before the holidays kicks in. Here are some interesting stats on Black Friday from last years.

• There was a 65% increase in the footfall on Black Friday compared to other days in November

• 4PM was the time when stores saw the maximum shoppers and not early mornings

• 59% of searches for Black Friday deals were before the sale begun

• 51% of total US shoppers headed online to get best deals on Black Friday

• Online shoppers spent $3 billion dollars shopping for Black Friday Deals online

• 12% of shoppers on Black Friday admitted they were Drunk while shopping

• An average American spends around 14 hrs shopping for christmas gifts

Interesting Facts about Black Friday

Black Friday refers to 1800s stock market crash

We come across this story quite often which refers to the stock market crash in 1869. Two speculator Jay Gould and James Fisk tried to corner the gold market with their fraud scheme. They tried to raise the price of Gold in the market by buying in lot of gold creating a supply shortage. At that time the US Government has the policy to sell gold weekly to public for paying off National Debt. These two using their showmanship and personal connection with the president tried to cause an influx in the gold prices.

They were successful in raising the Gold prices which led to many people investing in the new commodity that was rising in price rapidly. When the government became aware of the fraud they released a huge amount of Gold in the market to counter the raising prices. It drastically brought down the prices of Gold causing people to lose millions. It was a Black Day for people as well as the country which was about to experience a market crash. However, the promptness of the government and the financial controllers, the country was able to avoid a huge crisis but not without some people losing fortunes who fell into the investment trap.

Black Friday term comes from Philadelphia Cops

In another famous story which hold true evidences, Philadelphia Cops used the term Black Friday to describe the Friday after Thanksgiving for its chaos and crowd. It marked the day when shoppers from all around the state flooded Philadelphia for shopping. The day also happens to host a very popular football game between the Army and Navy. Chaos engulfed the state of Philadelphia making it tough for the city Police and authority to handle the crowd. The cops termed this day as a Black Day as they were not able to handle the chaos. It also brought the crimes rates to raise due the amount of shoplifting and thefts on this day.

It became a popular term among the shoppers that marked the day when people flocked the streets to shop and welcome the holiday season. The Black Friday was not a merry making day afterall which later became a very popular day among the shoppers for shopping and joy.Retailers use this day marking the beginning of the holiday season and shop for the holidays and gifts.

Until 1990s it was not a National Term

Black Friday was a local term used by the Philadelphia cops to mark the black day for them to control the chaos and crowd on the day after thanksgiving. It started spreading to nearby areas to Philly making the term popular among masses. Black Friday got its makeover from mouth to mouth causing the term to get a positive paintjob over the black nature of it earlier.

It was not until the mid- 90s that the term Black Friday came into existence side by side with the shopping festival marking the beginning of the holiday season. Black Friday made into the mainstream shopping festival of the year for its widespread popularity in the country.

Santa Claus Parade was the earlier Black Friday

Santa Claus Parade used to be the day after thanksgiving that marked the beginning of the holiday season. It became a popular rituals among the Americans for the holiday season. It was the Macy’s Thanksgiving Parade which was earlier symbolic to the beginning of the shopping spree and holidays in America. However, evidences show that the first santa claus parade was held in 1905 in Canada. Santa used to appear at the end of the parade kicking off the holidays and people can start their shopping festival.

American stores started this trend with similar kind of parades marking the start of shopping season. In 1924 began the famous Macy’s Parade which every year marks the start of shopping festival across the country. The parade later transformed into Black Friday that marks the start of shopping festival and holidays.

Thanksgiving Day was decided by the Shoppers

The president of USA used to declare a particular day as ‘a day for thanks giving’ on the last thursday of November during the mid ninety and early twentieth century. It usual fell on the fourth or fifth thursday of the month. It was not an issue until 1939 when the last Thursday of November was the last day of the month. Retailers across the country feared that the shopping season would be shortened and wrote a petition to the president Roosevelt.

They requested President Roosevelt to declare the holiday a week earlier to allow the shoppers to have ample time to shop and the retailers the chance to earn more profits. President Roosevelt accepted the petition and declared the Thanksgiving a week earlier. The next few years followed the trend when Thanksgiving was called ‘Franksgiving’. It had different dates to be celebrated across the country.

In 1941 the congress passed a joint resolution to celebrate the fourth thursday of november as Thanksgiving day across the country. It gives the retailers an extra week of shopping before christmas. It has been since regarded that the fourth thursday of November marks the Thanksgiving day across the globe.

Black Friday is not the busiest shopping day until 2001

Though it is one of the busiest shopping days of the year, it is certainly not the busiest. It has a huge footfall of shoppers across the globe. It happens to be the last saturday before christmas that is the busiest day for the shoppers. The last saturday also sees the most pockets emptied in shopping and buying gifts and other goodies.

Until 2001 when Black Friday finally became the busiest day for shoppers in terms of foot fall in the markets. It is the day for shoppers to save some bucks with great deals and offers on the show. Earlier it used to be a day people flocked in groups to popular retail outlets in search of deals and offers on their favorite products. TIme has changed and people do not need to visit stores anymore with chaos. Online retail has become the new place for shoppers to sit at the comfort of home and still get the best offers and deals.

Black Friday is now an International Affair

Black Friday was a US tradition that quickly became an international affair for the world to rejoice and celebrate the start of the holiday season. Worldwide it became the day for shoppers to look for the best deals and offers to buy gift, electronics and other appliances. Now you will find Black Friday deals and offers all across the globe and international markets. It celebrates the day when people come together, rejoice and buy goodies they love and desire. Online retail stores bring the shoppers from across the globe together on the same platform. It also brought the Black Friday sale to customers from world wide and not limited to only US retail stores.

Black Friday does not always have the Best Deals

Black Friday is the time of the year when brands and stores do offer attractive deals and discounts. However, it is also the time when retailers have the opportunity to maximize their sales and earn maximum profit. It leads to a war among the retailers to earn the most during the time. As the saying goes ‘moving from red to black’. It refers to the past when retailers did not earn profit maximized the Black Friday to earn more as people spent most on the day.

Some retailers trying to maximize their earning and profit does not provide better deals than on other days. Additionally, last saturday before Christmas seems to have more exciting and attractive deals. It also become too competitive for stores racing to get the customers with deals and offers better than others. Retailers cannot afford to incur losses while trying to be competitive in the market. This prevent the retailers from getting too aggressive with deals and sometimes inflate the prices before discounting the products.

You can get inferior quality goods on Black Friday

Some reports have suggested in past that manufacturers knowingly use inferior quality materials to make the products they are going to put on sale. This may not be true , but evidences of inferior products sold on sale are true but mostly they are from untrustworthy sellers. Some sellers try to cheat customers in buying inferior or defective products in the chaos of the Black Friday deal. It is not a case with most authorized sellers and popular sellers, but some unknown seller can do get customers in trouble with fake deals.

This can take place mostly with electronics and gadgets or even returned goods from the online sellers. Customers can return defective goods that they purchased online, these products are either recycled or resold at cheaper rates after inspection.The items that are not worth restoration of reselling are simply thrown away for recycle. In some cases small retailers get hold of these return products and sell it as new product on heavy discounts in rush of sale. Additionally, you can get counterfeit products sold among the real products on some sketchy website or online store trying to fool some customers.

Final Thoughts

Black Friday has an Internal appeal thanks to the online retailers coming into the picture bringing shoppers from around the world together on a same platform. Black Friday marks the start of the season of joy, fun, togetherness and family. It is the time of the year to bring joy to the loved ones, come back home from your job early, spend time with closed ones and have lot of gifts.

Shopping is an integral part of the Holiday season with Christmas gift being one important reason for shoppers to empty their pockets. It also make people upgrade their home, appliances, gadgets, cars and other some amenities with something new and better. Black Friday has made its name among shoppers for deals and offers. Just bear in mind to be aware and know where you are spending your money before jumping in for any item or deal. Rest assured, have a great holiday and enjoy shopping.

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