Black Friday: why is it black?

From Friday to the whole week. How was Black Friday born ? Why black?  

Origins  

Black Friday falls on the last Friday of November the day after Thanksgiving Day. This traditional American holiday was born in 1621 in the city of Plymouth, Massachusetts, where the Pilgrim Fathers gathered to thank God for the good harvest.  

In 1924, the Macy's distribution chain, on the day after Thanksgiving, organized a parade in New York to celebrate the start of Christmas shopping. An anomalous event, given that it was a working Friday, but it was still a great success.  

In 1961 in Philadelphia on the Friday after Thanksgiving the shopping streets were congested with traffic caused by thousands of Americans attracted by discounts of up to 80% valid only on that day . Since the 1970s, American stores have gotten into the habit of offering special discounts on that day.  

The black instead seems to be attributable to the black ink that was used to fill in the registers of traders who used black for assets and red for liabilities and, during Black Friday , black dominated the registers. Some, however, connect black to the sixties when the city of Philadelphia found itself managing the chaos of the historic Army vs. Navy football game . The latest theory dates back to the 1950s, to indicate the day when employees called in sick to go on a shopping spree .  

The custom arrives in Europe only through the internet or, better yet, through e-commerce. European retailers began to realize the sales potential associated with this date and included Black Friday in their trading calendar.  

In Italy at the beginning there was a bit of reticence about Black Friday , but digitalisation has now made it a tradition in our country too. In recent years it has morphed into Black Friday week and, in some cases, Black Friday month .  

What it measures  

Black Friday is used by financial analysts to measure the propensity to consume and spend around the world. In fact, it marks the start of Christmas shopping and is used as a parameter to predict the performance of the Christmas season .  

The large commercial chains offer exceptional discounts on this occasion and it is for this reason that many people who wish to take advantage of Black Friday to shop at a physical store are willing to spend the previous night camped outside the store, to be the first to take advantage of offers.  

However, a trend prevails on the Italian market: Italian consumers rarely plan their purchases and only in one case out of six is ​​the purchase planned .  

Cyber ​​Monday and Gray Thursday  

For some years , Black Friday has been followed, on the following Monday, by Cyber ​​Monday characterized by large discounts on technological products in the electronics sector, especially via the internet .  

If Black Friday was in fact born in stores, over the years it has increasingly moved online.  

There is also Gray Thursday , which is spreading rapidly in all the large American shopping chains: the shops open as early as the night of Thanksgiving which precedes Black Friday , giving rise to a "white night of discounts". .  

This year Gray Thursday will also be applied to all sunglasses from www.mrshadeshop.com , from luxury lines to discount lines. Starting from Thursday 23 November (morning, not night) every customer will be able to obtain an additional 30% discount on already discounted prices.

An excellent reason to celebrate Christmas early!