Apart from being a huge buzzword, Black Friday last year generated mass profits for nearly three-quarters of businesses, that reported an increase of between 10 and 30 per cent in sales on Black Friday when compared to their normal daily sales. What's more, last year Maltese shoppers went on a rampage for the massive sales on Black Friday, resulting in huge queues and viral posts (video).
This year, Black Friday is expected to surpass last year's sales, and the deals most local stores will display, are already the talk of the town for many shoppers. If you would like to have all the information regarding Black Friday deals, bookmark and follow this page, plus subscribe to the Times of Malta Black Friday Newsletter.
What’s black about Friday?
The roots of the shopping bonanza
There is so much glitter and gift-wrapping around Black Friday that we are led to the temptation of believing that this is a very modern concept indeed.
But it is not.
There are various theories as to how the term originated – none find a parallel, but the common element is that the term itself is over a century old.
The first recorded use of the term ‘Black Friday’ was applied to a financial crisis. That is ironic – given that burning plastic in this November end-of-week usually does lead to a massive dip in personal finances. But on September 24, 1869, the term was used to describe a very real crisis, when the US gold market went into freefall, bankrupting thousands, from Wall Street barons to farmers.
Another explanation for the term is that post-Thanksgiving, people would spend so much that retailers would move from operating at a loss – in the red – to making a profit – in the black.
what is certain is that it has turned holiday retail shopping into a success story
In recent years, another theory has surfaced. It seems that back in the 1950s, Philadelphia police used the term to describe the chaos that ensued on the day after Thanksgiving, as ‘Black Friday’ – thousands of shoppers would flood the city, in advance of the big Army vs Navy football game held on that Saturday every year.
The workload on police would be so heavy that they would have to work extra-long shifts to deal with the additional traffic and crowds.
The term didn’t spread to the rest of the US until the mid-1980s, when retailers reinvented Black Friday into something positive. A few years ago, an internet meme did the rounds, claiming that slave traders gave discounts at auctions on the day after Thanksgiving – thus Black Friday.
Historically though, there isn’t any reference to this link.
While theories on the origins of Black Friday vary, what is certain is that it has turned holiday retail shopping into a success story. While in 2008, holiday sales in the US fell 4.6 per cent from the previous year, since then, steady increases were recorded, with €14.5 billion spent in the US alone last year, and billions more in the rest of the world.
Stay tuned for more Black Friday News & Deals.