2006-11-26 14:56:35 · 13 answers · asked by Wellll... hello then! 1 in Education & Reference ➔ Quotations
BLACK FRIDAY (SHOPPING) - http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Black_Friday_Sale
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
Black Friday, the day after Thanksgiving in the United States, is historically one of the busiest retail shopping days of the year. Many consider it the "official" beginning to the holiday season. Most retailers will open very early and usually provide massive discounts on their products.
Although Black Friday is typically the busiest shopping day of the year in terms of customer traffic, it is not typically the day with the highest sales volume. That is usually either Christmas Eve or the last Saturday before Christmas.
Origin
The first use of this term to describe the day after Thanksgiving is not exactly known. There are two popular theories as to its origin.
Accounting practice
One theory is that stores traditionally operated at a financial loss for most of the year (January through November) and made their profit during the holiday season. When this would be recorded in the financial records, common accounting practices use red ink to show negative amounts and black ink would show positive amounts. Black Friday is the beginning of the period where they would no longer have losses (the red) and instead take in the year's profits (the black).
Stress from large crowds
Another theory comes from the fact that shopping experience on this day can be extremely stressful. The term is used as a comparison to the extremely stressful and chaotic experience of Black Thursday or other black days. According to The Word Spy:
Earliest Citation:
Christmas decorations around Tampa Bay started going up in late October, and business has been brisk since then. And while Friday--known as Black Friday for the legendary hordes--will be the biggest shopping day for many area stores, others ring up the greatest sales the Saturday before Christmas.
—Marilyn Marks, "Retailers expect good sales this Christmas," St. Petersburg Times, November 27, 1986
There exists an earlier reference, speaking to the Friday after Thanksgiving:
A BLACK FRIDAY.
There have been many Black Fridays in recent history. Most of them have been days of financial panic. There has been none of blacker foreboding than last Friday. And the blackness is not loss or fear of loss in stocks and bonds.
New York Times (1857-Current file).
New York, N.Y.: Dec 3, 1922. pg. 38, 1 pgs
ISSN/ISBN 03624331
Employees of retail stores have for years referred to Black Friday in a satirical way, to note the extremely stressful and hectic nature of the day. Heavy traffic and customer demands added to the long hours make it a difficult day.
Black Friday on the Internet
Advertisements in advance
Certain websites such as DealTaker.com offer information about Black Friday deals up to a month in advance. The text listings of prices are usually accompanied by adscans -- complete PDFs either leaked by insiders, or intentionally released by large retailers to give consumers insight and allow them time to plan.
Cyber Monday
The term Cyber Monday refers to the Monday immediately following Black Friday, which unofficially marks the beginning of the holiday online shopping season.
In recent years, Cyber Monday has become a busy day for online retailers, with some sites offering low prices and other promotions on that day.
Controversy
Response (Buy Nothing Day)
Anti-consumer frenzy protesters have chosen this day as Buy Nothing Day in North America, where those concerned about the increasing power and influence of consumer corporations are urged to not make consumer purchases.
DMCA
In recent years, some retailers (including Wal-Mart, Target Corporation, Best Buy, and Staples, Inc.) have claimed that the advertisements they send in advance of Black Friday and the prices included in those advertisement are intellectual property and protected by the Digital Millennium Copyright Act (DMCA).
Using the take down provision of the DMCA, these retailers have threatened various internet web sites who post Black Friday prices to the internet in advance of the intended release date by the retailers. This policy apparently derives from a fear that competitors, in addition to customers, will also have access to this information and use it for competitive advantage. The actual validity of the claim that prices are protected intellectual property is uncertain as prices might be considered a 'fact' in which case they would not receive the same level of protection as pure intellectual property.
The benefit of threatening internet sites with a DMCA based lawsuit has proved tenuous at best. While some sites have complied with the requests, others have either ignored the threats or simply continued to post the information under the name of a similar sounding fictional retailer.
2006-11-27 19:29:57 · answer #1 · answered by Sabrina 4 · 0⤊ 0⤋
Black Friday is the Friday of kicking off the shopping season for Christmas. The name comes from companies and shops hoping to come out in the black instead of the red as far as profit goes. Normally this time of year, makes or breaks a store...
2006-11-26 22:59:11 · answer #2 · answered by I love the flipflops 5 · 0⤊ 0⤋
Origin: The origin of Black Friday comes from the shift to profitability during the holiday season. Black Friday was when retailers went from being unprofitable, or "in the red," to being profitable, or "in the black", at a time when accounting records were kept by hand and red indicated loss and black profit.
Black Friday is the day after Thanksgiving.
2006-11-26 22:58:12 · answer #3 · answered by Anonymous · 2⤊ 0⤋
It is the day after thanksgiving. The name did come from retailers, and became a household phrase do to the media. This one day can put a retail company in the "Black" then turning a profit for the year's sales, thus the term "Black Friday
2006-11-27 01:40:56 · answer #4 · answered by babydoll 7 · 0⤊ 0⤋
Black Friday is the day that retailers get out of the red. The day after Thanksgiving accounts for more than 50% of a retailers sales for the year.
2006-11-27 03:02:24 · answer #5 · answered by Anonymous · 0⤊ 0⤋
Black Friday is the Friday after Thanksgiving.
The reason it's called this is because all year stores are in the "red" (they spend more than they earn) and at this time, since there's such a rush of shopping for Christmas, they get back into the "black" as opposed to still being in the "red".
2006-11-26 22:58:42 · answer #6 · answered by Rika Ishikawa 3 · 0⤊ 0⤋
Black Friday was the day back in 1869 when a couple of investors tried to take over and manipulate the US Gold market...
2006-11-27 01:27:04 · answer #7 · answered by Makani 1 · 0⤊ 0⤋
black friday is the day after thanksgiving for the starting of the Christmas shopping season.
the term comes from basic business terms....you are in the "red" or the "black". this means if you are in the red, you are losing money as a business. black means you are making money in business.
most retail stores don't make much money all year but Christmas season is what guarantees them to make a profit for the year. in turn becoming "black" in their business....aka making profit.
2006-11-26 22:58:31 · answer #8 · answered by Anonymous · 1⤊ 0⤋
"Black Friday" is the big shopping day after Thanksgiving that gets retailers back into the "black" financially speaking.
2006-11-26 23:00:06 · answer #9 · answered by soulguy85 6 · 0⤊ 0⤋
People say back in slavery days that slave owners use to sale slaves for half price on black friday do you know anything about this?
2014-11-27 20:12:26 · answer #10 · answered by Dogkiller 1 · 0⤊ 0⤋