The day after Thanksgiving has been the informal commencement of the holiday season since president Abraham Lincoln designated Thursday as the Thanksgiving leave in November – but this day didn’t get the title ‘Black Friday’ until much later.
As all the shopping activities take place on Friday, this is recognised as a profitable day of the year for all producers and retailers. The word ‘Black’originated from accountants as they would mark profits as black in their books and losses as red. Black Friday is known as the profitable day in the retail and manufacturing industry as it drives almost 70% of the U.S. gross domestic product profit. The name was adopted to reflect the success of the day. To encourage people to buy. Retailers offered huge discounts on products on this specific day.
In 1905, Eaton stores in Canada began the first Thanksgiving parade, with Santa on a wagon, through the downtown streets of Toronto (Amadeo, 2017). In 1914, Seven Floats, the nursery rhyme, joined Santa in the parade. This motivated other stores to launch this famous parade in different parts of the country. It enhanced the sales for the day and weekend. Retailers took this sale as an opportunity to stop the advertisement for holiday sales till late December. In 1940, due to the great depression, Thanksgiving week fell to the last week of the month. It led to bankruptcy for retailers as profits were crumbling before the holidays. Therefore, the president pushed the date to the fourth Thursday of the week as there were various petitions addressed by retailers. Some states began celebrating this day on Thursday and Friday, so demanding companies to provide their employees with an extra holiday. Moreover, the congress passed a law to fix the date of Thanksgiving. So, developing a loophole in 1950. People began taking sick days on Friday as it gave them a headstart on the four-day vacation and holiday shopping carnival. However, rather than attempting to determine whose salary should be deducted, and who was legitimately suffering, many companies began combining that day as an extra paid leave.
Black Friday is now known as a day when consumers can save money through the discounts offered by the retailers. Every year, the amount spent on this day is increasing. It leads to billions of profit for the retailers in the November and December shopping season. In 2001, shoppers paid a total of $400 billion on weekend shopping. By 2019, that number was up by 75%, to $700 billion. The profit on that week accounts for 20% of the annual sales for the retailers. That’s why it is known as the biggest shopping day for customers and the industries.
