What's the HYPE with 'Black Friday'?
‘Black Friday’ is officially here. But, how an earth did this shopping phenomenon catch on in the UK? And what is it?
What is it?
If you didn’t know already. ‘Black Friday’ is an annual shopping day event that occurs each year on the 27th November. It is traditionally held the day after ‘Thanksgiving’ – the biggest annual holiday in the UK… (not…)
You’ll be able to find that most of your favourite retailers now take part in this craze. Offering major discounts on plenty of products.
‘Black Friday’ usually rolls over into the weekend. However! – Don’t worry! – This is then swiftly followed by ‘Cyber Monday’. Another, craze fuelled discount day. During this period, major retailers will often extend their discounts over the course of a week.
Origin
‘Black Friday’ is the day after ‘Thanksgiving’, which is a HUGE annual holiday in America. This also happens to be THE biggest shopping day in the year for them and it marks the start of the Christmas shopping period.
It is thought that the term, ‘Black Friday’ was started when many U.S shops would mark their losses in ‘red’ and profits in ‘black’, usually after ‘Thanksgiving’ – leading consumers to buy their heavily discounted goods.
The term itself is linked back to 1869. When the U.S gold market crashed and left Wallstreet barons bankrupt. It was coined as ‘Black Friday’. Many years later the term become associated with ‘Thanksgiving’.
When did 'Black Friday' come to the UK?
Amazon and ASDA are both largely given credit for starting ‘Black Friday’ in the UK.
Amazon started to run promotional ‘Black Friday’ deals in 2010. ASDA then followed in 2013. However, it was ASDA that created much social hype around the day, with many videos going viral of their stores being packed with bargain hunters. ASDA was also owned by american giant (Wallmart) at the time. However, it wasn’t until 2015 that ‘Black Friday’ really went mainstream in the UK. It is now considered to be one of the biggest shopping days of the year, generating over £7.5 billion in revenue.
Who takes part?
These days. You’ll find all major retailers taking part in this annual event. But, you may also find smaller businesses trying to get in on the action (and rightly so!).
With COVID-19 and Christmas just around the corner. This year is set to be the biggest ‘Black Friday’ event of the decade. With huge surges in online orders and discounts.
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