...Black Friday, the day after Thanksgiving, started based on an accounting term when records were kept in ink with red signifying a loss in profits and black signifying a profit. Retailers generally operate in the red (unprofitable) throughout the year and depend heavily on the holiday season sales to end the year in the black with a profit. While Black Friday is not considered a national holiday, it has been commercialized as such a big deal that employees are given this day off in the hopes of increasing the number of shoppers. Although Black Friday is a tradition for many families, in today's society, Black Friday has become a bad sign for the US. As we witness every line wrapped around a building at 4am and as we see more and more people...
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...The history of Black Friday actually begins with kick off of The Macy's Thanksgiving Day Parade, created in 1924. This event ushers in the Holiday shopping season that begins on the Friday after Thanksgiving. Taking a closer look... Let's turn the calendar back to 1939, when the 32nd President of the United States, Franklin D. Roosevelt, moved Thanksgiving back a week to offer retailers more time to sell their products and experience a financial upturn. As the change was announced in October, Roosevelt's plan created a bit of confusion among the public. Consequently, many Americans celebrated the Holiday in its original time and in fact, even ridiculed Roosevelt's Holiday changes by referring to the day as "Franksgiving. " Despite the difficulties...
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... Thanksgiving is a holiday to be with your families and enjoy life. But now, instead of being with their families, people are going out on one of the biggest shopping sprees. Black Friday. Black Friday falls on a Thanksgiving. There is an argument whether the United States Federal Government enact a law that restricts businesses from opening on Thanksgiving. I agree Black Friday, is a day where everything is on sale. I mean everything. People get crazy, they can’t even wait till the...
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...Black Friday Madness In the essay “Black Friday: Consumerism Minus Civilization,” the author, Andrew Leonard, makes the argument that, “The out-of-control marketing and consumer insanity” (135) has taken over Thanksgiving and the days following it. Sadly, as consumers, we have forgotten what Thanksgiving is really all about. Marketing businesses have gone overboard brainwashing consumers with advertisements pumping them up to shop on Black Friday and the days that follow. Moreover, marketing businesses have caused the actions we see and hear about on Black Friday such as people being trampled, as consumers rush into stores to shop the sales, and are proof of this insanity. I strongly agree with Leonard’s arguments from “Black Friday: Consumerism Minus Civilization,” that it is time to take back Thanksgiving and end the craziness. First of all, Leonard points out that marketing and consumers have become out of control with all of the Black Friday sales. He gives examples of advertisements that are out of control. For example, “after the perky Stepford-wife shopper sings joyfully about how she’s ‘been in line since yesterday’ and how everybody’s going to Kohl’s at ‘midnight, midnight’ the ad ends with her observing, with a mild air of perturbance, that she ‘can’t get this darn song out of my head.’ Ladies and gentlemen, there’s your winner of the 2011 award for honesty in advertising” (135). This commercial is an attempt to brainwash consumers. He talks about “grown men screaming...
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...Black Friday is considered “the busiest shopping day of the year”. The day right after Thanksgiving where everyday citizens rush to any store they can think of to start their holiday shopping. But with this exciting day, comes an almost unexpected loss of money. How much are people really spending for their gifts? Is the amount spent by the average household healthy? Are consumers paying closer attention to their financial situation when shopping? Black Friday may be a day of gathering presents for under the Christmas tree, but finances are ultimately hindered by one cheerful and hectic day. The amount people spend during the Black Friday sales have reached new heights. According to CNN.com/Money the average consumer spends about $398 to $423 dollars in just one evening. If calculated nation wide that would be anywhere between 52.4 billion and 59.1 billion dollars. Part of the reason that so much money is spent during Black Friday actually has something to do with the store hours. Recently stores have noticed that pushing the event up to Thanksgiving Day and extending it a few hours after the day itself increases sales, which is ultimately good for their businesses. CNN also states that due to hours being moved up to 8 P.M. on Thanksgiving Day that the amount of customers has risen an additional 5.6%. Not only are sales going up in stores, online shopping increases during the four day holiday weekend, 21% of online purchases were due to Black Friday sales. Each year the amount...
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...Black Friday is the annual shopping holiday that occurs on the Friday following Thanksgiving. It is mostly a shopping ritual to those people living in the United States, Canada and Mexico. Black Friday is a significant day to many retail stores because it is referred to as the start of the Christmas or holiday shopping season. The origin of the popular Black Friday dates back to before 1961, in Philadelphia, where it was formally used to describe the heavy vehicle and pedestrian traffic. It was always seen as extremely disruptive to the Philadelphia Police Department and always transpired on the day after Thanksgiving and thus the name Black Friday came about. As the years passed, an alternative reasoning for the title came to be known which denoted that retailers traditionally functioned at a financial loss recognized as, “in the red” from the months January to November. “Black Friday” therefore signifies the point at which retailers finally start to return a profit, “in the black”. Over the years more and more stores have begun opening at extremely early hours to help consumers get a jump-start on the sales. Some retailers have even started the trend of opening up at midnight. The Black Friday craze is tremendously popular, so popular in fact, that many incidents including violence has been seen in some cities in the past. We wanted to research if Black Friday should be considered a ritual. Our research process included secondary and primary sources. Our primary sources were...
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...Moreschini Black Friday Is black Friday worth it? Is waiting in long lines impatiently in the cold worth the deals that you receive? Black Friday is the day after Thanksgiving that starts early in the morning and lasts all day long. This day makes shoppers go crazy and is believed to save you tons of money. Is it really worth it though? Some people say that its not and that they should just wait till Cyber Monday because there are deals just as good on that day. Also if you wait till cyber Monday you wont have to wait outside in lines all night. You can do it from the comfort of your house in pajamas on the couch. In my opinion I think that cyber Monday is a waste of time. I have participated in it before and I feel that it is almost a trick to the customers. I think that they make the customers think they are getting a really good deal and in reality its not that good of a deal after all. I also agree with the article where it says that the customers can just wait a couple of weeks for the item to go back on sale. Some people would rather just spend the time sleeping and couldn’t comprehend waking up that early to go shopping. One more thing that I think you should think about is the worker. They have to be there even before you and have to prepare in days of advance for this day. They also have to work all day long when they could be at home celebrating the holidays with their families. I don’t think I have ever met a worker that wanted to work on Black Friday. Ultimately...
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...Income inequality damages growth, OECD warns Chris Giles in London Rising income inequality over the past 30 years has damaged growth rates in rich countries by limiting educational opportunities for poor children, according to research by the OECD, the group of mainly rich nations. The finding that higher inequality harms economic performance mirrors the results of a similar study by the International Monetary Fund earlier this year. But the OECD’s analysis goes further because it concentrates on rich countries and attempts to establish the exact cause of inequality’s harmful effects on growth. The OECD said the research showed governments should focus policy on ensuring poorer children gain better education and the supporting people into employment. As inequality has moved higher up the political agenda in rich countries, there has been a flurry of research papers looking into the link between inequality and growth. Clear conclusions have been difficult to achieve because economic theory is ambiguous and the subject has been plagued by research finding spurious associations in the data rather than meaningful causal relationships. Higher inequality can hinder growth by destroying trust in society, hitting investment in skills and reducing demand growth for goods and services from poorer families who tend to spend more of their incomes. But it also provides greater incentives for people to strive to climb the ladder of opportunity and can provide necessary savings to...
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...Black Friday: The People and the Craze Kevin Leonel Sonilal COM/156: University Composition and Communication March 16th, 2013 Professor Karen Nowak It is in our human nature to desire goods whether it is for necessity or luxury. Our appetite for shopping dates back hundreds of years to the bazaars and markets of old times. Over the years, our fascination with shopping has increased and evolved. There are more smart and sales-conscious shoppers. As a result, the markets and vendors have evolved in order to accommodate the evolved shopper. It has resulted in the creation of mass markets, industrialization, and cultural attitudes. With the increasing amount of shoppers, and countless markets and vendors, companies are competing to gain shopper interest; they invent new products, create persuasive advertising, and offer sales on current merchandise. For companies, their largest revenue gain comes around the holidays. Therefore, they make big pushes for consumer sales on those designated days. However, a large portion of their revenue comes from one non-holiday, the man-made holiday, Black Friday. On this day, consumers spend more time and money in preparation than they do on their goods. There is a significant change in their attitudes and behavior; they become more competitive and more aggressive. This single day affects both producers and consumers. The combination of aggressive shoppers, sales, and limited quantities can be a recipe for chaos and disaster...
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...Holiday Shopping - The Economy’s Final Push from the Red Black Friday is the Grand Marshall of the holiday shopping season; it starts a race in holiday season for shopping and spending, which in return creates new job opportunities. Shoppers race around the malls looking for the best gifts at the best prices. The frenzy of the holiday season combined with the sales of Black Friday are greatly beneficial to the US economy. As supply and demand increases with the holiday season season, so does spending and the job market. Black Friday is more than just a day of sales, it is a day to help boost the economy spending and profit. One of the theories behind the name “Black Friday” really sums up the effects of the day. The story says that majority of the year, retailers are operating at a financial loss. To show this loss, the accountants note the negative totals in red ink. Starting with the Black Friday sales retailers really begin to turn a profit, and climb out of the negative holes they live in all year. Once out of the negative, accountants begin to use black ink to show the totals. Thus, “Black Friday” was born. This story may not be the most accurate or historically backed, but there is some truth behind it as far as the after affect of Black Friday. Retailers make a large portion of their yearly profit during the holiday season. It may not have started out as big as it is today, but at present time the Friday after Thanksgiving is a huge shopping day in the US. Folks...
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...8:30-11:15 Article Review 3 Black Friday: a term used to describe the day that millions of Americans flock to the stores the day after Thanksgiving to get the best deals for their holiday shopping. This year’s Black Friday however wasn’t as crowded as previous years. “Black Friday just a day this year, no longer a bellwether” is an article that describes how Black Friday 2015 differs from Black Friday in prior years. The article that was published in the New York Times on November 29th was written by Hiroko Tabuchi. Ms. Tabuchi is a writer for The New York Times that mainly focuses on business and technology from Tokyo and Japanese economics. Ms. Tabuchi has been with The New York Times since 2008. She previously worked for The Wall Street Journal and was a reporter for the Tokyo bureau of The Associated Press. The article expresses that technology is the major factor in the shift of Black Friday this year. More people shopped online over the Thanksgiving holiday weekend instead of actually going to stores. In a survey by the National Retail Federation, nearly 102 million people stated that they shopped in stores over the weekend compared to more than 103 million who shopped online. Consumers also planned on spending approximately $80 less this year than last year, during the holiday weekend, $381 in 2014 compared to $300 in 2015. According to data from Adobe, shoppers spent about $7.2 billion online on Thanksgiving and Black Friday and mobile devices making up a third...
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...Black Friday, the Retail Holiday Black Friday is the biggest shopping day in the United States of America. Forget about Thanksgiving, Black Friday is the truly notable holiday for a lot of shoppers. In this essay, I am going to discuss about how Black Friday began and how it is changing, how business make business on that day, the pricing strategies and competition, and the implications for employees. It is hard to tell when the day after Thanksgiving became a retail behemoth, but it probably started on late 19th century. At that time, department stores such as Macy and Eaton sponsored the holiday parades. These parades gave stores an opportunity to begin advertising holiday sales. This turned into a result in a lot of people going shopping after the parades were over. It wasn’t called Black Friday until 1966. Originally in Philadelphia, on the shopping day after Thanksgiving, it was a massive traffic jams and over-crowded sidewalks as the downtown stores are mobbed from opening to closing. So, Philadelphia police and bus drivers call it "Black Friday". I think Black Friday makes good business sense to major retailers. It brings a good opportunity to retailers to sale their products. It is a good time for major retailers to make profits. But, on the other hand, I think Black Friday could hurt small or local business. It is hard for small or local retailers to compete with major retailers like Walmart or Target. Major retailers have a variety of things on sale on Black...
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...Thursday Thanksgiving Day, which is always the fourth Thursday in November in the United States, is a week from today (today is Nov. 15, 2012; Thanksgiving Day is Nov. 22 this year). The day after Thanksgiving Day is called “Black Friday” in the business world. “Black Friday” is the unofficial beginning of the Christmas and Hanukkah shopping season. The word “black” in “Black Friday” is an accounting term meaning “profit.” Businesses that have been operating “in the red” prior to Thanksgiving Day will hopefully be “in the black” as a result of all the shopping and buying that people do during the holiday (Christmas and Hanukkah) season. Until about ten years ago, stores would open on Black Friday at their usual time (9:00 am or whenever). There would be a long line of people waiting to get in, as most people have the day off on Black Friday and want to begin their Christmas shopping or Hanukkah shopping that day or soon thereafter. Beginning about ten years ago, retail stores began to open earlier and earlier on Black Friday in order to gain an advantage over competitors who opened at 9:00 am. Stores began opening at 6:00 am on Black Friday, then, a few years later, would open at 4:00 am on Black Friday. Some began opening at midnight (12:01 am) on Black Friday. The retail chain Target Stores announced that this year (2012) their stores will open at 9:00 pm on Thanksgiving Day (Thurs., Nov 22). Their stores will be closed on Thanksgiving Day until9:00 pm, then will open at 9:00...
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...decision to not take part in the infamous Black Friday was an interesting one to say the least. Black Friday is looked upon as a day where you save a lot of money, for the price of missing most of Thanksgiving Day and the day afterwards. You save tons of money on these spectacular deals, but you have to go through a war to get to them. The amounts of people and violence that happens on this day, is one of the most violent Holidays we have. I don’t like taking part in it, because despite the amazing deals you get there’s tons of people who also have the same thought in mind and want that same thing. They also only stock so many of the product, so it’s first come, first serve and you basically have to be out there in the morning on Thanksgiving Day in order to get what you want. The conversations I’ve had with some of my friends and my family was astonished. A lot of my friends and family, take part in this ordeal. They like Black Friday and they take part in the deals, I even got invited to go with my sister now that I have my license; but, I said no. Most of my friends wanted to know what was wrong with me and the decision I had...
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...there has been a trend to bring Black Friday’s discounts earlier in November, however, this year Wal-Mart and Target went beyond all market expectations. Wal-Mart’s strategy for the holiday season is “to offer the best brands, to make shopping experience easier, and to continue providing low prices than competitors to bring joy to their customers”, says Duncan Mac Naughton, Wal-Mart Us Chief Merchandising Officer. For 2014 Holiday season these retail stores have begun the season sales on November 1st, providing Black Friday and Cyber Monday discounts from the first week of November all the way till the week before Christmas, stretching the holiday season almost an additional month compared to previous years. Brian Cornell, Target’s Chairman of the Board and CEO, says “Target’s promise is ‘Expect More. Pay Less’, and when we do that, Target is impossible to beat”. Retail stores depend largely on their pricing in order to be competitive and successful in their industry. In order to be able to achieve success, these stores need to implement a pricing strategy that goes in accordance to their mission. In the case of Target and Wal-Mart, their pricing strategy is based on a maximum market share pricing objective. When looking and this retail stores, they possess a huge part of the market and they achieve this by maintaining their prices constantly low, assuming the market is price sensitive, and in retail, it is. In maximum market share, higher sales volume leads to lower unit costs...
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