In the past, Black Friday has been a day filled with crowded stores, amazing deals and shopping adventures all in time for the holiday season. Although, those days of long lines and impulsive shopping decisions are shifting gears as society moves to the realm of online shopping.
Black Friday occurs every year the Friday after Thanksgiving to welcome in the holiday festivities. Many big-name stores, such as Walmart, Best Buy and more, mark down prices on their products. With online shopping, Black Friday has become a much more subtle event.
This change has opened up a new look on shopping due to Black Friday not receiving the same amount of income it has in past years. Some wonder if, in future years, that shopping will all be done online.
The alternative of Black Friday, Cyber Monday, is similar to Black Friday but done online. Every year, Cyber Monday sales increase, while Black Friday deals decrease. In 2023, the electronic shopping sales for Cyber Monday had gone up 9.6% of sales and is expected to continue to grow with years to come.
While Cyber Monday sales increase, Black Friday sales are wavering. Although there has been a smaller increase in shoppers compared to those of cyber monday, there was a major drop in 2020 due to COVID-19.
With the shutdown of stores and the fright of catching the virus, many did not go shopping for Black Friday, making it be restricted to online. This trend has continued since then and gave online shopping a place to shine and because of this effect, Black Friday has not gone 9 to the rates it was before 2020.
Many more people have joined the internet in the past years and want a way to save as much as possible when it comes to money. With that being said, they have done research behind if Black Friday has real deal savers. Analyses have been performed and found that 98% of items on sale can be found cheaper at some points during the rest of the year.
There have been most of the same deals online vs. in stores, but now there are a few changes. Through Black Friday there are better deals on bigger products, but through the internet, the deals are on much smaller, everyday items, making both the shopping days appealing for different reasons.
The time to shop online compared to the time to shop in store is also a change between the two. During Black Friday, it is a one day event and one can find the deals over that span of 24 hours. While during Cyber Monday, it can span the whole weekend, instead of a one day event.
Other shopping themed days Small Business Saturday and Green Monday have not gone down with their shopping rate, Black Friday has. People have decided that it is much better to shop online seeing as it is easily accessible, convenient and the same prices as in store.
It is impossible to see into the future, making it unknown to tell whether or not Black Friday will be gone. Black Friday is seen as a day for shopping, holiday awakening and great markdowns, but in the near future it may disappear and turn into the promotion of online shopping.
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