Do we need Black Friday anymore?
I don’t remember when Thanksgiving wasn’t linked with Black Friday. The two have been hand-in-hand for decades. While the term “Black Friday” has historical roots dating back to the 1860s and 1950s, it wasn’t until the 1980s that it was associated with post-Thanksgiving shopping. Retailers started to market “Black Friday” as the time of year when stores finally turned a profit, moving from being “in the red” to “in the black.”
Black Friday eventually expanded to include several other retail holidays, such as Small Business Saturday, Cyber Monday, and Giving Tuesday. Some retailers even have their own “Cyber Week” offering deals for Thanksgiving week and the following week. And for retailers offering larger purchases, such as furniture, Black Friday lasts the entire month of November.
Over the last few decades, Black Friday has become a retail frenzy synonymous with getting up early to shop for discounted merchandise while fighting the crowds of hundreds of other shoppers. The so-called “start of the holiday season” kicks off in the worst way possible, showcasing the worst parts of the holiday season — commercialization, materialism, and consumerism.
Promotions start earlier each year, to the point where we’re bombarded with Black Friday commercials the minute the clock strikes midnight on November 1. Consequently, stores would open earlier and earlier for “doorbusters” — some as early as 5 p.m. Thanksgiving evening. Black Friday has become a cultural phenomenon memorialized in retail-centric TV shows such as “Superstore” and “Chuck.” Additionally, you had late-oughts YouTube influencers showcasing their “Black Friday hauls” from places like Forever 21 and Bath and Body Works to further fuel the consumerism fire. Moreover, at least one news story (if not more) each year that highlights an incident at a big-box retailer where folks are trampled in their quest for a deeply discounted flat-screen TV.
But now, with the ease and convenience of online shopping, do we still need the thrill of Black Friday shopping?
From its inception in the 1980s until the mid-2000s, Black Friday seemed like an in-person-only event, where you had to head to the stores at an ungodly hour (if not on Thanksgiving itself) to score the best deals. Then the rise of online retailers made way for Cyber Monday, allowing you to score the same deals from the comfort of your couch. And even then, you don’t have to wait until after Thanksgiving — most retailers start the cyber deals leading up to the holiday so you can get your shopping done before you even sit down for your turkey dinner.
The Black Friday frenzy peaked sometime in the mid-2010s. Since there seems to be a paradigm shift in how retailers participate in Black Friday. Shopping behaviors, ethics, values, and industry peer pressures have retailers choosing to handle it differently than they have in the past.
Retailers have slowly contracted their Black Friday hours, some reverting to only being open on Black Friday instead of trickling into Thanksgiving. Some retailers, such as REI, have opted out of Black Friday altogether, finding that it doesn’t align with their company values. Since 2015, REI has run its annual #OptOutside campaign, encouraging its customers and employees to get outside rather than into the stores. It’s been so successful that REI decided to make it permanent.
Then, the pandemic changed how consumers shop. Suddenly, it was no longer safe to be in a store full of hundreds, if not thousands, of people scouring for deals. So, we moved online and have not looked back. Ongoing supply chain issues have impacted store inventory and choices, so consumers continuously look to online retail giants to fulfill their needs.
Additionally, consumers aren’t getting much better details than they would any other time of the year. Most, if not all, retailers run at least one other sale campaign throughout the year with similar (if not the same) savings that customers would get for Black Friday. “Black Friday in July,” among other campaigns, has grown in popularity to help retailers hit their numbers. Consumers no longer have to worry about FOMO on the “lowest prices of the season” because chances are, they’ll see another promotion just as low in December as retailers try to draw in last-minute shoppers.
Yet, despite inflation, the National Retail Federation expects a record 166.3 million people to shop this Thanksgiving weekend.
While the act of holiday shopping isn’t going anywhere, it certainly is changing. The retail frenzy is moving outside of overcrowded stores and online. Maybe one day, we’ll see a world where the chaos around shopping for doorbusters at 3 a.m. will be nothing but a distant memory.
