Why Black Friday has become an online state of mind

Black Friday has evolved substantially from its roots as a one-day event following Thanksgiving.

The term "Black Friday" entered the popular vernacular in the 1950s, when retailers began focusing on the Friday after Thanksgiving as a date to host major holiday kickoff sales. 

Believe it or not, Thanksgiving was generally seen as the demarcation of the holiday season into the 1990s, with few significant holiday-themed promotions happening prior to the fourth Thursday in November. 

Stores started opening their doors earlier that Friday morning, then Black Friday started creeping into Thanksgiving night, then it became a weekend-long event, and then e-commerce started becoming a mainstream shopping channel.

Since the advent of e-commerce, Black Friday has become roughly analogous to the mythical locale of "Margaritaville" that serves as the subject of the classic Jimmy Buffett single. As long as you have warm weather, an ample supply of tequila and the company of some good friends, you’re in Margaritaville.

Similarly, as long as you have a sales event with even a vaguely holiday-oriented theme and assortment, it’s Black Friday regardless of what the calendar says. Let’s look at a few ways e-commerce has spurred this Black Friday transformation:

The endless possibilities of virtual aisles

When Amazon held its first Prime Day sales extravaganza in July 2015, many observers referred to it as "Black Friday in July." As the years went by, Prime Day gradually became more oriented toward early holiday shopping to the point Amazon began promoting it as the unofficial start to the season, and competitors including Macy's and Best Buy started running competing "Black Friday in July" events.

E-commerce naturally lends itself to out-of-season seasonal sales. Orders for merchandise that would otherwise fight for shelf space with more calendar-appropriate goods can be fulfilled directly from warehouses or even drop-shipped from suppliers. A dedicated section of a website featuring promotional messaging for a far-off holiday is less intrusive and awkward to shop than a brick-and-mortar store that is decorated for an event that is still months away. 

Customers like convenience 

Consumers already buying in-season products online can simply add a few holiday items for home delivery and not worry about carrying everything or fitting it all into their vehicle. This makes it easy to promote add-on digital holiday purchases at any given time.

The convenience of shopping well ahead of time online also explains why the sales cycle for other seasonal holidays, such as Halloween, keeps expanding. 

[READ MORE: How early Halloween is changing retail]

The ease of buying something with a few clicks of a button or taps of a phone even led to the creation of an entirely new sales holiday – "Cyber Monday." Now a firmly entrenched event in the retail seasonal promotional calendar, Cyber Monday began as a sociological phenomenon when economists noticed a surge in online purchases the Monday after Thanksgiving.

It's not always easy to run to a store during the workday, but taking a three-minute break to buy something online is much more doable. Retailers started responding to this customer behavior with focused Cyber Monday promotions. 

According to Adobe, consumers spent a total of $12.4 billion on Cyber Monday in 2023, making it the biggest single sales day in the history of e-commerce and a perfect example of consumers, rather than retailers, driving demand.

Follow the leader

Finally, retail is a "fast follower" industry at heart. As previously mentioned, Amazon Prime Day was the initial catalyst for Black Friday becoming a state of mind more than a date on the calendar. 

Other major retailers like Walmart and Target initially followed suit, gradually creating a “snowball effect” among smaller retailers which has seen Prime Day become an industrywide mid-summer holiday kickoff and numerous Black Friday promotions occur months before Thanksgiving.

Whatever the time of year, why not pour some hot mulled cider (or even a frozen margarita) and get in the mindset for some holiday shopping!