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Black Friday is the Friday that follows Thanksgiving Day in the U.S. (normally celebrated annually on the fourth Thursday of every November). It is considered to be one of the major shopping days of the year not just in America, but all around the world, and though it isn’t regarded as an actual holiday, many employees, except those who work in retail shops, are either given or take the day off so that they can start off their Christmas shopping adventures.

Black Friday is a term that was coined during the 1960s so as to mark the beginning of the Christmas shopping season. Back then, accounting records were kept by hand and red ink was used to indicate loss while black ink indicated profit, hence the term "Black" is used to refer to the increase in profits and sales for retail shops. This Friday has been known unofficially as the start to a busy holiday shopping season ever since the beginning of the modern Macy's Thanksgiving Parade in 1924.

The term Black Friday is also used to describe the financial crisis of 1869 where a catastrophe in the stock market was started by gold spectators who were trying to corner the gold market then ended up failing, leading to the collapse of the market and the plummeting of various stocks. The two are unrelated, so should never get mixed up!

Why Has Black Friday Gotten So Popular?

Retailers started to realize that they could bring in big crowds of people to their shops by offering discounted prices on some of their common products and thus Black Friday became a major shopping day considered better than the last minute Christmas sales. Various retailers offer their discounted products for sale on Thanksgiving morning and some even go on to email their specials to potential buyers days before the event. Prices are normally cut on almost everything from furniture to toys and electronics, but clothes and fashion pieces are becoming much popular each year as many shoppers see Black Friday deals as a means of building up their wardrobe in a cost-efficient way.

Black Friday normally tends to be a long day in which retailers open very early in the morning in order to begin serving the many people who are waiting anxiously outside. Sometimes the discounts on various products offered by stores may be so low to the point that they may end up not making any profit at all on the sales of those particular products, but this may be done so as to entice more shoppers who will buy other products that will make them profit. Larger retailers tend to post their Black Friday offers online beforehand give their buyers adequate time to find out what's on sale and plan their purchases well.

Other retailers however take the approach of waiting till the last moment when releasing their adverts so as to create a buzz and keep their buyers anticipating the announcement eagerly. For example, clever online shopping brands will unleash their best Black Friday deals in waves, posting new bargains on the hour all day in order to keep a healthy stream of traffic on-site throughout Black Friday. This in turn helps fuel ‘impulse buys’. After all, there’s no greater feeling than picking up that killer dress or pair of shoes at an unexpected knowck down price!

Nowadays, most consumers choose to go shopping online during Black Fridy as to avoid queues and (often literally) fighting over coveted items with other shoppers (there are some very scary videos of this online). A lot of the times though, people will show up in retail shops so as to acquire the limited-time deals like laptops or flat screen televisions very cheaply. The main advantage of shopping online is that buyers will immediately know whether or not the product they require is available or out of stock and one can easily locate the same product on a different online store without having to move about physically from store to store.

Black Friday is still considered as best shopping day of the year so make sure to be prepared whenever November arrives, start saving, and don't miss out on the special offers this day brings.