Is Black Friday Dead?

What are you doing the Friday after Thanksgiving? “No idea,” you might be thinking. But many people consider this date—known as Black Friday—a holiday in its own right. And it’s completely devoted to shopping.

These days, it’s almost impossible to avoid the onslaught of ads for Black Friday deals as Thanksgiving nears. With the rise of e-commerce giants like Amazon, it’s easy to accomplish all your holiday shopping online in a matter of minutes—sometimes well before Thanksgiving.

But it wasn’t always that way. Black Friday used to mean camping out overnight outside big-box stores with other deal hunters to be first in line to fight over discounted toys, TVs, and video game systems. It hit an apex in the early 2000s. Today making a trip to a physical store is a lot less common.

Does that mean Black Friday is dead? Hardly! More than 200 million U.S. shoppers took advantage of Black Friday sales in person and online last year, spending a record $11.8 billion online.

What are you doing the Friday after Thanksgiving? “No idea,” you might be thinking. But many people consider this day its own holiday. It’s known as Black Friday. And it’s all about shopping.

As Thanksgiving approaches, you’ll probably see a lot of Black Friday ads. Online retailers like Amazon have made it easy to get all your holiday shopping done in just minutes. And these days, Black Friday sales often start well before Thanksgiving.

It wasn’t always that way. People used to camp overnight outside physical stores before Black Friday. When the doors opened, they would rush in to snap up discounted toys, TVs, and video game systems. This peaked in the early 2000s. Today going to a physical store is a lot less common.

Does that mean Black Friday is dead? Hardly! More than 200 million people shopped Black Friday sales in the U.S. last year. They made purchases both online and in person. Online, they spent a record $11.8 billion in all. 

The holiday has simply evolved, says Bobbi Rebell, a consumer finance expert at CardRates.com. “It’s no longer the one and only day to get great deals because, as we all know, there are many days to get great deals,” she says. “The holiday-driven discounts now get spread out over the entire holiday season, often starting near Halloween—or earlier.”

But not all discounts are created equal. Rebell recommends being on the lookout for common marketing gimmicks, and there are many! “For consumers, the challenge is to find out if the original price was really ever the price,” she explains. “Sometimes, especially online, items are marked as ‘on sale’ but the actual discount is ridiculously small. I’ve seen some that are a penny! Compare the ‘sale’ price to past pricing and you will have the information to make a decision.”

The holiday has simply evolved, says Bobbi Rebell. She’s a consumer finance expert at CardRates.com. “It’s no longer the one and only day to get great deals,” she says. “The holiday-driven discounts now get spread out over the entire holiday season, often starting near Halloween.” 

But not all discounts are created equal. Rebell recommends watching out for common marketing tricks. For example, retailers may list an “original price” that’s extra high to make a “sale” price look better. “Find out if the original price was really ever the price,” suggests Rebell. “Sometimes the actual discount is ridiculously small. I’ve seen some that are a penny! Compare the ‘sale’ price to past pricing and you will have the information to make a decision.”