Black Friday: The Shopping Bonanza gone global

Every year the fourth Thursday of November, this day today global consumers prep and psych themselves up to an almost frenzied state of mind as they prepare to unleash their ‘Hungry like a wolf ‘consumer hunger for material goods and go in for the kill at the stroke of midnight. The kill, in this case, is exclusively discounted goods at retail stores across the United States&now also in other parts of the world and most importantly online on the virtual highway of the world wide web where your geophysical coordinates are of no consequence provided the shipper has a tie-up with DHL or the local post to deliver it at your doorstep. These deals will be wolfed down in a frenzied deluge to be savored later, after the packages arrive at the doorstep over the coming days, all the way to Christmas.

According to US Consumer Reports, in 2013 approximately 141 million US consumers shopped during Black Friday spending a total of USD 57.4 billion of which $1.2 billion accounted for online sales.

So what is Black Friday?
The term was coined in Philadelphia, early beginning of the 1960s by the people and the media at the time to describe the heavy and disruptive pedestrian and vehicle traffic which would occur on the day after Thanksgiving celebrated across the US. The term began to be used in a broader context and applied outside its origin area around mid – 1970s. For many years, retailers began trading at 6 am but by mid-2000s, it had been gradually creeping up to 5 am and 4 am. The ceiling finally broke in 2011 when several major chain retail outlets swung open their doors at midnight.  In 2012, another major retail chain Walmart took it a step further by announcing they would open trading at 8 pm on Thanksgiving Day (Thursday) where permitted.

The advent and progressive growth of e-retail have transformed business models and service delivery like never before, allowing rural vendors to serve urban customers and corporate bigwigs target urban and rural consumers alike.

The two other places outside of the United States where Black Friday has increased in prominence and trade are Canada and Australia. The former’s rise can be attributed primarily to its geographical proximity to the US and the relative advantage of the strong Canadian dollar and the ease of slipping over the border for a shopping spree. This exodus of consumers to the other side prompted Canadian retailers in Lake Ontario to offer similar discounts with an aim to retain their interest and business and discourage cross-border shopping.

Besides the aforementioned countries, it is also a big event in the United Kingdom and Ireland, Germany, Austria, Switzerland in the European market; Mexico and Brazil in North America and even India with the major retailer like Apple extending their offer to the local market. This easy concept penetration and proliferation have been the result of e-retail convenience and social media dominance across the globe. In a way, it can be compared to the Boxing Day sales that are popular across many of the Commonwealth nations. But for now, prepare to indulge.

Just make sure that the shipper delivers to your address and that should be your only guideline in this one-click shopping experience in today’s tech-savvy world.

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