Entrepreneurship | Shopping

A Brief Insight Into The History And Future Of Black Friday


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Understanding where Black Friday came from helps to place it in the broader context of the modern holiday shopping season.

The History of Black Friday

The first mentions of Black Friday as we know it are said to have occurred around the ’60s in Philadelphia, coined by traffic police who dreaded the day. As retail expert Bob Phibbs explains to Betway, it was used to refer to the busiest shopping and traffic day in the city.

“The streets and department stores of downtown Philadelphia were mobbed,” says Phibbs, speaking to Betway online casino. By the ‘80s, it was an urban legend that it was the day retailers moved from reading losses to black ink profits,” he says. The entire period from Black Friday through to December can actually be a time that erases all losses from the previous three quarters and makes a business profitable for the year end.”

However, local police weren’t the only ones who loathed this day. “The ratio of sales personnel-to-customers added to the pandemonium, as the frequent custom at the time was for sales associates to call in sick on this day to extend their Thanksgiving holiday weekend.

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The Future of Black Friday

Black Friday has necessitated a reconsideration of strategies by businesses. A lot of preparation is necessary ahead of time for this event, so many organizations have had to adapt their plans. Large firms must acquire in large quantities and raise prices ahead of time in order to decrease costs later on and not lose as much money.

High-street firms, according to previously stated, focused on boosting footfall on Black Friday. It’s critical to have enough people on hand to operate the tills, restock, and clean up after them in order for the customer’s experience to be as simple as possible, regardless of how many people are inside at any one time.

It’s tough to keep the original from changing with the times, now that retail holidays like Singles’ Day and El Buen in Mexico are becoming more common all over the world, and popularity for them is increasing at a breakneck speed.

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Bob Phibbs had his part on the say of Black Friday in the future, saying “The idea that there’s this door buster and there’s a $10 TV, there are only eight of them and you better be one of the ones to line up for eight hours to get it, I think those days are gone. That’ll never happen. We don’t really want those days to come back because it’s almost impossible to manage.”

“But I think we’re going to continue to see more niche events that can get people excited. We’re certainly seeing more innovation coming out of Asia, and other places as well – look at Singles’ Day.”

“Chinese New Year used to be a niche thing, now it’s everywhere. It gives you a chance to go out to a different consumer and it gives you a chance to give people the feeling that they matter.”


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