What is Black Friday and Where Did its Name Come From?

Black Friday is one of the biggest days of the year for retail, when stores slash their prices and shoppers get ready to snap up a bargain. Traditionally it takes place in November on the Friday after Thanksgiving. But where does the name come from and what does it mean?

Reportedly, the first time that the phrase ‘Black Friday’ was used was in reference to the US stock market crash of 1869. The price of gold plummeted after two financiers, Jay Gould and James Fisk, attempted to corner the market and ramp up prices. The resulting panic was described in the press as Black Friday and it affected the US economy for years.

Chaos and disruption

Black Friday made a reappearance in Philadelphia in the early 1960s, when local police officers used it to describe the day after Thanksgiving, which coincided with the annual Army–Navy football match. Out-of-town shoppers and sports fans would flood the area, causing traffic chaos and general disruption. Shoplifting was a huge problem on the day, and so the police had to work extra hours to maintain order.

The term became well known throughout the city and, unsurprisingly, retailers were not keen on such a negative-sounding phrase being used to describe the pre-Christmas sales period. In 1961, with the help of a PR agency, an attempt was made to rebrand Black Friday to Big Friday, but this didn’t catch on. During the 1980s, the term Black Friday came to be associated with businesses going into the black due to successful sales, which eventually brought a more positive spin to the name.

Jostling for bargains

Black Friday made its way to the UK in 2010, when Amazon introduced British shoppers to the term. It proved to be so successful that the Amazon website crashed due to the demand. Three years later, supermarket giant Asda introduced its Black Friday in-store sale, and that’s when the concept really took off. Other major retailers joined in, offering big discounts, and the media was filled with images of shoppers jostling and sometimes fighting to grab bargains, particularly electrical goods.

Facts and figures about Black Friday

Black Friday now takes place in over 50 countries around the world. In Wales, it is known as Dydd Gwener y Gwario Gwirion, which means Silly Spending Friday. In Quebec, it is commonly called Vendredi fou, which translates to Crazy Friday.

This year, it was predicted that shoppers in the UK would spend an estimated £3.9 billion during the Black Friday weekend. Experts anticipated that the average person would spend £124.

Having initially been associated with a financial crisis, Black Friday has subsequently become a global retail phenomenon. It now marks the unofficial start of the Christmas shopping season and has become an annual milestone for consumers and retailers alike.