Black Friday Is No Longer What It Used To Be

Black Friday, once a defining marker of American spending habits and a testament to consumerism, seems to have lost some, if not all, of its grandeur. While shoppers can still join the queues at Macy’s or Best Buy the day following Thanksgiving with the hope of landing a great deal, many consumers find that bargain opportunities have already presented themselves and going to a physical location is not always worth it anymore.

Each year, holiday retail shopping sales start earlier and last longer outside of the scope of Black Friday and Cyber Monday.

“When you think about Black Friday, the competitive landscape has really shifted to Black Friday deals prior to Black Friday.”

Jeffrey Gennette, chief executive of Macy’s, via the New York Times

Nevertheless, the lure of Black Friday maintains its cultural significance. Craig Johnson, founder of the retail consultancy Customer Growth Partners states how the days of camping outside retail mega-stores or scrambling for discounted electronics might be part of the past, but Black Friday remains a representation of the annual shopping excitement that takes hold of the United States.

In the last two decades, Black Friday sales have globalized according to Dale Rogers, a business professor at Arizona State University. Retailers began to offer sales much earlier, and deals are now often available from October onwards. Many retailers view the days leading up to Christmas as more crucial in terms of sales, with last-minute gift buying generating significant revenues. Barnes & Noble, for instance, sells over 20 million books in December alone, with the week before Christmas seeing sales surge to twenty times that of an average week.

While Black Friday continues to be a significant shopping day, retail consultants now predict it to be the third busiest day for retailers, behind the last two Saturdays before Christmas. Over the winter holiday, several companies often make up to a third of their annual revenue, adding to the importance of this period.