The holiday shopping season is upon us, and the historically busiest day in retail is approaching fast: Black Friday. In the media, it’s common to see this national holiday portrayed as people fighting in malls to get the best sale and waiting in outrageously long lines for stores to open. However, as shopping has become more common and accessible through things like online ordering and shipping, this type of stigma around Black Friday seems like it’s starting to change.
good deals last longer than on black friday alone
This year, Black Friday falls on Nov. 28. Despite this, some companies stretch their sales to span over a couple of days, or even weeks. Amazon is one of the biggest corporations in the United States, and is one of the companies who executes this idea. Especially with the addition of Amazon Prime in 2005, this company has soared in sales with its variety of items it has on the website. According to a report made by Macrotrends, Amazon’s annual revenue for 2024 was $637.9 billion. Considering this substantial amount of revenue, Amazon is able to prolong their Black Friday sales for a longer duration than just the day after Thanksgiving. This year, their Black Friday and Cyber Monday sales will run from Nov. 20 through Dec. 1. Compared to how Black Friday is portrayed in films and television shows, this has a different energy to it since there’s not as much of a feud between buyers. Consumers don’t have to wait until Black Friday to get things on sale and can organize their shopping plans accordingly, creating less of hectic and sometimes overwhelming environment.
Some stores’ black friday sales aren’t as “good” as they are during other times of the year
Bath and Body Works is a retailer that was founded in 1990 and sells a variety of candles, home fragrance items, hand soaps, perfumes and more. Though there isn’t a public record of when their most notable sale began, their Semi-Annual Sale is argued to be a bigger deal than the sales they have on Black Friday. Their Semi-Annual Sale typically happens around June and July, as well as in late December. During this sale, customers can sometimes get up to 50-75% off products. Their Black Friday sales typically change every year.
This year, some of their Black Friday sales include:
- Champagne Toast ultimate Hydration Body Cream, for $6 instead of $19
- Into the Night Fragrance Mist for $6 instead of $19
- Bright Christmas Morning Body Wash, for $6 instead of $16
Depending on your preferred product, some of these deals may be more appealing to you than the Semi-Annual Sale. However, it shows how though Black Friday is the biggest shopping day of the year, there are other huge sales happening in retail throughout the year that are often argued to be better than this holiday.
Black Friday remains the busiest day in retail. For some people it’s used for holiday shopping, and for others it’s just waiting to buy yourself something until it goes on sale. Nonetheless, this day has changed and developed over the years due to the impact of online shopping and stores hosting “better” sales at different times of the year. Despite the change, various media productions have shown what Black Friday used to look like, and has created a type of nostalgia for consumers.