For decades, the American holiday, Black Friday, has dominated Thanksgiving weekends across the U.S. Shoppers rampaged store aisles, lining up outside stores and filling carts with discounted items. News cameras crammed to capture the waves of people through shop stores. Black Friday wasn’t just a holiday, it was an experience.
Recently Black Friday has become a shadow of its previous years. Instead of creating “must have” limited sales, companies have created subpar discounts leaving no sense of urgency for the customer. Black Friday has been replaced by something more relaxing and quiet: online shopping.
“A lot of in-person shopping just went away and the need for physical shopping disappeared,” sophomore Matthew Lindinger said. “The desire to shop online was greater.”
Online shopping retailers have taken over the Black Friday deal space. The switch began when shoppers realized they could get the same or even better deals whilst online shopping. In addition, online retailers have been giving discounts well before Black Friday itself, turning Black Friday into a multi-week long event.
Another reason for the disappearance of in-person Black Friday was the COVID-19 pandemic. The pandemic restricted people from in-person shopping, but massively increased the online shopping space. This also led to companies losing profits, turning to increased discount periods to make back the money they lost during the lock down.
“Shopping after Thanksgiving on Black Friday just doesn’t happen anymore, especially after the pandemic,” Lindinger said.
Retailers used to release doorbusting deals to flood customers in the store. Now stores are running “Early Black Friday Sales” and “Early holiday deals,” that run all month. Spreading sales across multiple weeks allows companies to manage crowds and bring steadier profit with few risks.
“I think it’s because companies will make more of a profit if they spread out sales instead of having them all in one day,” junior Baz Hussain said. “Black Friday slowly became less and less of a big deal.”
Black Friday is not gone, but it has transformed. Instead of the holiday being a highly anticipated event that people prepare for, it has turned into a minor marker along the string of sales. There are still discounts, but anticipation and urgency for sales has disappeared. The once Iconic holiday, Black Friday is a shell of its former self.
“Black Friday has fallen off and is not really exciting anymore,” Hussian said. “Nobody goes to shop in person anymore and it has really lost its charm.”
