Black Friday: Overview
Black Friday, observed on the day after Thanksgiving in the United States, signifies the unofficial start of the holiday shopping season. This day has gained prominence for retailers who offer extensive discounts and promotions to attract consumers after the Thanksgiving holiday. The term "Black Friday" originally emerged in the 1960s in Philadelphia, where it described the chaotic traffic and crowds associated with the day. Over time, it has come to symbolize the potential profitability for retailers, as businesses move from the financial "red" (loss) to "black" (profit) on their balance sheets.
The day is marked not only by physical retail shopping but also by a surge in e-commerce, with significant online sales contributing to the overall economic landscape. As consumer habits evolve, retailers face increasing competition from online platforms, leading many to initiate Black Friday sales even earlier in the month. However, this practice has sparked debate about the impact of commercialism on the values of Thanksgiving and family time. Moreover, some retailers, aiming to respect the holiday spirit, have chosen not to open on Thanksgiving, promoting initiatives to support employees' time with family. As a result, Black Friday remains a complex cultural phenomenon that intertwines economic urgency with family traditions and social reflections.
Black Friday: Overview
Introduction
Taking place on the fourth Thursday of November, Thanksgiving marks the beginning of the holiday season for many Americans. Because it occurs on Thursday, many working Americans take the following Friday off and enjoy a four-day weekend. Such a length of time enables them to travel, spend time with family, or just relax.
However, because Thanksgiving represents for many the unofficial start of the holiday season—as it is followed by Hanukkah, Christmas, and New Year's Day—this weekend is also a popular time for holiday shopping. Retailers have long taken notice of this fact and have traditionally offered discounts and other promotions to encourage holiday shopping over the weekend. The Friday after Thanksgiving has thus been dubbed "Black Friday," recognizing the tremendous number of shoppers who spend this day at the stores and the profits that result from this activity.
Because Black Friday takes place immediately after or even on Thanksgiving Day, a holiday of great cultural significance, a debate has persisted regarding whether Black Friday sales are positive or negative in nature. On one side of the debate are those who believe that consumers and retail workers should spend their holiday weekend with family, reflecting on that for which they are thankful (the premise of the Thanksgiving holiday). On the other side are those who believe that Thanksgiving and Black Friday sales simply give consumers (who are looking for an opportunity to do their holiday shopping) and retailers (who need holiday profits) what they want.
Understanding the Discussion
Blue laws: Laws originating in the 1600s that restrict business operations and sales on Sundays and holidays.
Brick and mortar: A physical retailer or storefront (often used in comparison to online businesses).
E-commerce: Purchasing goods through online stores and websites.
Retailer: A business that purchases goods and products from manufacturers and wholesalers and, in turn, sells them to its customers.
History
In 1620, a group of religious separatists from England known as the Pilgrims arrived at what is now Plymouth, Massachusetts. During their first year, the Pilgrims dealt with the harsh New England winter coupled with a terrible harvest. Many Pilgrims died as a result, unable to cope with the challenging new environment. However, during the second year, through a closer relationship with members of the Wampanoag tribe that lived nearby, the Pilgrims were able to successfully grow more than enough crops to survive their next winter in Plymouth. The Pilgrims and the Wampanoags, in celebration of this cooperative achievement, held a three-day feast in 1621. Over time, many Americans reenacted this famous celebratory meal, although the celebration did not become a national holiday with a fixed date until the nineteenth century.
More than two centuries after the original Thanksgiving celebration, a newspaper editor named Sarah Josepha Hale wrote to President Abraham Lincoln, calling upon him to establish a national day of unity. In October 1863, Lincoln responded by declaring the last Thursday in November as a "day of thanksgiving and praise." To Lincoln, this day was not a simple commemoration of the fortune the Pilgrims experienced through their cooperation with the Wampanoags. Thanksgiving, the proclamation read, meant taking the time to reflect on all the blessings God had given humanity. Today, Thanksgiving remains a major American holiday, drawing together families from all over the country on one of the busiest travel periods of the year.
In recent decades, Thanksgiving has taken on another meaning. For a large number of Americans, Thanksgiving also marks the beginning of the holiday season. Because it falls on a Thursday, many working Americans also take (or are granted) the Friday after Thanksgiving as a personal day in order to have a four-day weekend. Retailers have taken notice of this fact and have been offering discounts and other benefits to holiday shoppers on that Friday. Philadelphia was one of the first cities in which Friday shopping became a tradition; by 1961, the city saw enormous crowds in the streets, as pedestrians and drivers clogged the roads and stores to go shopping and attend the annual Army-Navy football game. Overworked police dubbed the day "Black Friday," a reference to the number of accidents and incidents associated with such large volumes of traffic. Although Philadelphia officials struggled to remove the negative connotations of Black Friday, the name has persisted.
Another application of the name "Black Friday" refers to the positive outcome of the day for retailers. In 1924, retail giant Macy's held its first Thanksgiving Day Parade in New York City. The event served as one of the first public recognitions of Thanksgiving as the first day of holiday shopping season. Over time, stores across the country took notice of the day's popularity and started offering discounts and other special deals. Many retailers began opening their doors at midnight on Black Friday or even in the afternoon or evening on Thanksgiving Day, staying open for the entire day and evening to maximize customer volume and profits.
In this context, "black" refers to retailers' ledgers. Traditionally, businesses would cite losses in red ink and profits in black in their accounting documents. Black Friday represents a day in which businesses could potentially record a large profit on their balance sheets. Retailers have therefore come to view Thanksgiving and Black Friday as a critical two-day period for their businesses' survival and profitability.
Black Friday Today
Today, Black Friday links Thanksgiving to the weekend, giving many working Americans a four-day weekend. It also gives consumers a day to begin their holiday shopping, as many stores offer large discounts as an incentive for consumers to shop on that day. Furthermore, Black Friday provides retailers with the opportunity to either add to the year's profits or overcome a sluggish year's sales with a year-end profit injection.
Regarding the latter of these trends—a profit for retailers—Black Friday and the holiday period it traditionally heralds underscore an imperative for success. Economic conditions are not always conducive to such success—the recessions of the early twenty-first century saw significant declines in same-store sales for many retailers. Black Friday therefore represents the last and best chance to boost sales or to even turn a profit. Even during the 2008–2010 global recession, holiday shopping was seen as a critical opportunity to bolster sales. According to the Pew Research Center, November-to-December sales in 2013 made up more than 18 percent of sales for the entire year. The National Retail Federation estimates that November-to-December sales account for around 20 percent of annual retail sales each year in the United States, and as much as 30 percent of annual sales for toy, hobby, and game stores.
In light of the need for profit generation starting on the Thanksgiving weekend, retailers have scrambled to maximize their competitive edge. Many open their doors at midnight on Black Friday, running all day and into the evening. Some retailers have even begun to open their doors on Thanksgiving itself. This holiday practice in particular has generated controversy, however. Many New England states have so-called blue laws in place. These laws were initially imposed by Puritan leaders as far back as the seventeenth century, mandating that residents observe religious holidays as periods of reflection—people were expected to stay home from work and away from activities that otherwise distracted them from such reflection. Since its establishment as a national holiday in the nineteenth century, Thanksgiving has come to be included in the application of such laws—as a result, most retailers in such states are prohibited from opening their doors on Thanksgiving Day. As an increasing number of retailers open their doors and begin Black Friday sales on Thanksgiving Day, stores located in states with such blue laws are at a disadvantage during this pivotal time of year.
However, some retailers have refused to open their doors on Thanksgiving Day, in order to give their employees time with their families. Starting in 2015, the outdoor clothing and gear retailer REI started a policy of closing its brick-and-mortar stores on both Thanksgiving and Black Friday, promoting their decision to resist the day with the hashtag #OptOutside and paying their employees to take the days off. Starting in 2016, the Mall of America, the largest mall in the United States, remained closed on Thanksgiving Day. Jill Renslow, the mall's senior vice president of marketing, said in a statement: "We think Thanksgiving is a day for families and for people we care about."
Beginning in the late 2010s, in addition to competition from other brick-and-mortar stores, retailers have had to compete with countless online retailers, such as online retail giant Amazon, which also offers a wide range of discounts on merchandise and shipping on Thanksgiving Day and Black Friday as well as on the following Monday, known as "Cyber Monday." In 2019, e-commerce (online shopping) generated more than $7 billion in sales on Black Friday alone, a figure that was part of a consistent growth trend over the previous multiyear period. This continued surge of Internet sales adds another layer of competition to physical stores seeking to maximize profits on Black Friday. Some retailers have begun to offer Black Friday deals that are available only in stores, but this has not done much to curb the trend of shoppers increasingly making their holiday purchases online. In 2019, November and December retail sales totaled $730.2 billion (up 4.1 percent over 2018 sales), including $167.8 billion in online and other nonstore sales, which were up 14.6 percent over 2018.
In the 2020s, rising inflation and consumers reigning in spending, among other factors, caused retailers to become worried that starting holiday shopping so late in the year would negatively impact their total sales. To combat this, many of the large retail stores began advertising and implementing their Black Friday sales early. In 2023, big box stores began their Black Friday sales on Friday, November 17, a week before Thanksgiving and Black Friday. With Black Friday occurring so late in the month in 2024, on November 29, Black Friday deals were anticipated to begin as early as the week of Halloween.
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