Black Friday began in 1952, becoming recognised as the beginning of America’s Christmas shopping season; the day after Thanksgiving.

The day continued to grow in popularity, becoming widely recognised as early as the 1980’s and securing itself as the busiest day of shopping in the United States continuously since 2005.

Recent years have seen retailers open doors as early as midnight to accommodate keen shoppers, with the excitement surrounding Black Friday spreading overseas. In 2010, the concept first came to the UK when Amazon promoted huge discounts through their online store. 2015 then saw Black Friday become the biggest day of shopping throughout the United Kingdom, with up to £2billion now being spent online and in stores within the 24-hour time period.

Brands have tapped into the global phenomenon to advertise, creating cut-price promotions aimed at eager shoppers as early as a week or two before Black Friday itself. Companies compete to capture their target market’s attention with the best offers, deals and advertisements.

Since 2005, the sales have continued through until the Monday, commonly known as Cyber Monday, with the USA spending a total of $6.59billion on this day alone last year.

IMRG’s Director of Strategy and Insight, Andy Mulcahy, explained the power of Black Friday’s popularity, saying: “Consumers are now delaying purchases because of Black Friday.”

While the average spend continues to rise, the number of people heading to shops is actually on the decrease due to online shopping and the ease of purchasing through mobile devices. An example of this is retail parks and shopping centres having a 3.6 per cent lower footfall in 2017 than the previous year.

Thursday 23^rd November will see endless promotions running through until Cyber Monday on 26^th November.

 

Will you be shopping this weekend?