Black Friday

What is Black Friday?

Black Friday is a World Wide Event that has become famous for offering fantastic deals that are not available at any other time of the year.

Black Friday is an informal name for the day after the American Celebration of Thanksgiving. Black Friday is often the busiest shopping event of the year.

Black Friday falls on the last Friday in November.

Black Friday applies to purchases made both in-store and online.

For retailers, Black Friday is regarded as one of the busiest days of the year, and marks the beginning of the Christmas shopping season.

Why is it called Black Friday?

The term Black Friday was first coined in 1869 when two investors called Jay Gould and Jim Fisk tried to drive up the price of gold causing the stock market to crash. The stock market dropped by 20%, there was a huge drop in the value of corn and wheat and foreign trade stopped. During the late 1950s, the term was used to refer to the day in between the American Holiday Thanksgiving and the Army-Navy game as the event would attract large crowds meaning that law enforcement was required to put in extra hours to moderate traffic. It was only in the late 1980s that this term was reinvented by retailers to denote the day when retailers finally turned a profit, going from in the red for negative earnings to in the black for positive earnings.

Fun Facts about Black Friday

  • In Mexico, Black Friday is referred to as “El Buen Fin”, which translated means “The Good Weekend”.
  • Black Friday is the busiest day of the year for plumbers.
  • 12% of Black Friday shoppers are drunk.
  • The date of the American Holiday Thanksgiving was indirectly determined by holiday shoppers.
  • Pyjamas are among the top sellers for the Black Friday Event.
  • Black Friday is unofficially the best day to buy a TV.
  • The average savings on Black Friday promotions in 2021 was a whopping 37%.
  • It is rumoured that in Brazil, retailers started to inflate the cost of items to make it look like customers were getting a discount when there was no real drop in price. Because of this, the day has become known as "Black Fraude".