8 curiosities about Black Friday
November is over, but before leaving it will repeat one of the most anticipated commercial events of the year.
This American tradition went up last years in Spain and became one of the main commercial marketing strategies before Christmas. Black Friday will be celebrated the next 25th of November, even some companies have been offering discounts for a week.
But, what do we know about Black Friday? In this article, we will show you a little approach with some anecdotes and curiosities about this date.
- It’s celebrated a day after Thanksgiving, the last Friday of November
All of you have seen the celebration of this day in american movies. This holiday was originated by European settler as a thanksgiving for the end of the harvest. But right now, it has a different meaning, like familiar dinners, parades through the country and the beginning of the buying season. - The name of Black Friday was created by Philadelphia police
Nowadays, Black Friday could be related with the madness produced by the shopping, but the origen of the name was created some time ago. Traditionally, in Philadelphia, on Thanksgiving Saturday, an American football match equivalent to Barça-Madrid was held in the city. Because of this, there was a great influx of people difficult to control, which was why the police called that day as a Black Friday. In 1961, taking advantage of the fact that the city was full, merchants thought to include discounts in their stores. Realizing that it worked, the new tradition began to spread throughout the United States. - Companies tried to change the name to Big Friday, but it didn’t work
Since the term “Black” is not exactly positive, in the 70’s it was attempted to switch to Big Friday. Obviously the name did not work, as consumers kept referring to it as Black Friday. Even today, and without much success, some American hypermarkets call it Big Black Friday. - It started to be the day when numbers pass to black
For the great success of the Black Friday, the name of “black” got a new meaning. It was the day when numbers pass from red to black. It is produced by the large number of purchases made that day. - So, it is one of the days with more purchases
In 2001 it was the first year in history that Thanksgiving Friday became the biggest selling day of the year, reaching sales even equivalent to whole weeks of other months. - In Spain, it’s celebrated since 2012
In Spain, this commercial madness is completely new. It was only four years ago when some companies decided to start Black Friday. Nowadays, more and more shops offer discounts to their customers. - Walmark broke the tradition by opening Thursday night
In 2011, Walmark supermarkets broke the tradition of only offering discounts on Friday, opening its stores on Thursday night. It’s becoming a trend in companies to offer sales more than a day, even all the weekend. - Ciber Monday is an extension of Black Friday
This extension of days has produced that Ciber Monday, the day of discounts in online commerce, is becoming more popular. The big driver was Amazon, who wanted to imitate Black Friday and, little by little, has become an almost global trend.
At BCM Marketing we offer commercial marketing services helping companies to prepare for these major events. That’s why we encourage both consumers and businesses to enjoy this marketing party.
Happy Black Friday!
