The Origins of Black Friday
Since the 1960s, Black Friday has referred to the day after Thanksgiving Thursday (a holiday in the United States). A big day for sales to kick off the shopping season in the United States. In fact, it's always on a Friday.
Since Thursday is a public holiday, Americans take Friday off to enjoy a long weekend, which they often spend with family. Friday is a time for shopping and starting Christmas gifts.
So we understand "Friday". But why Black Friday?
Simply because in merchants' accounting books, they had to record losses in red ink and profits in black ink. The long Thanksgiving weekend, the final stretch before Christmas, was therefore an opportunity for merchants to turn their accounts from red to black and achieve a good day. Hence the term "Black Friday."
So these are the origins of Black Friday, initially reserved for the United States.
Black Friday in France and Europe?
With the rise of online shopping, the rest of the world has witnessed this strange phenomenon every year in the United States, where people flock to department stores offering exceptional promotions for the occasion. Since promotions are also applied on websites, it has become difficult for online stores not to offer Black Friday deals, for fear of consumers spending their budgets with those offering attractive discounts.
In France, the giants Auchan, Fnac, Darty, Géant Casino, Leroy Merlin launched Black Friday as early as 2014. Since then, the interest of the French has continued to increase for this special day and all retailers, large or small, have started to do Black Friday.
What makes Black Friday so appealing is, on the one hand, the attractive discounts for customers, but also the fact that it's a one-off event, much like the sales periods used to be in France, except that the whole world communicates about it simultaneously, giving it an unmissable dimension. It's also a very short event, originally just one day, which has nevertheless expanded to a week, it must be said. The shorter a promotional event, the greater its impact. Black Friday only happens once a year, and therefore it's a real boon for both consumers and retailers.
Is Black Friday replacing the sales in France?
If we observe on the one hand the growing success of Black Friday and on the other the disinterest of consumers in seasonal sales we can think that Black Friday is now the big weekend of sales.
Consumers are a bit lost because sales don't really make sense in France.
Summer sales start before summer and winter sales right after Christmas, even though there are still three months of winter left. Has this never struck brands and retailers?
Moreover, we now see promotions all year round, so sales get lost in the middle of all kinds of promotions, and are far too long to have any impact (there is also talk of shortening the official sales period in France from 2019).
In my opinion, sales represent the old world, the old way of doing business. The one where consumers needed to go and get a product in a store.
That's no longer the case. Black Friday is exciting because brands and stores compete fiercely to attract customers, offering discounts of up to 70% or exclusive products at low prices specifically for that day. The event itself is therefore more fun and appealing than the French sales system, where products typically start at 30% off, followed by a second markdown the following week, then a third, then a fourth... it's far too long for today's consumer habits.
Black Friday is also an opportunity to prepare for Christmas by buying gifts for loved ones at a lower cost, and in this respect, this promotional weekend also takes on a functional dimension.
The rejection of Black Friday
Some consumers, brands and retailers refuse to participate in Black Friday, a symbol of overconsumption.
In response to Black Friday, environmentalists, anti-waste networks, and retailers mobilized, like Camif , which deactivated its website in protest. Despite this loss of revenue, CEO Emery Jacquillat believes the event is symptomatic of our consumer society, and he prefers to close the store to accelerate awareness.
Another initiative, the Envie network, which brings together French social enterprises specializing in repair and recycling, is launching Green Friday in order to:
– raising awareness of alternatives to conventional consumption,
– and to promote reuse initiatives.
The idea: to offer repair courses, money-saving advice, and workshops on waste reduction. A great way to remind people, as the holiday season approaches, that there are other, more sustainable ways to consume.
But then, should we participate in Black Friday?
As a consumer, if I need to buy something, this might indeed be the right time because I will benefit from advantageous prices.
But perhaps this is an interesting time to reflect on who I'm going to give this money to. Do I want to see the money I've earned through hard work go to a company that will itself support the work of my family and friends, invest in things that will personally benefit me, and pay taxes? Do I want to buy products that won't be flown in from the other side of the world to limit the carbon footprint of my purchases?
Let's be honest, as a brand or retailer, a promotional campaign allows you to clear out unsold stock and generate cash flow to continue offering attractive products to customers. Refusing to get rid of this idle inventory will ultimately lead to the closure of your business.
Black Friday can therefore be used as an opportunity to engage in meaningful commerce, promoting more responsible consumption by choosing to buy from independent retailers, local brick-and-mortar stores, and websites of responsible brands, rather than from giants whose profits you don't benefit from. And for brands and retailers, consider reinvesting Black Friday proceeds in a worthwhile project: donating a percentage to a charity or launching a more eco-friendly product, for example.
Once again, the important thing is to do your best and enjoy yourself while adopting a way of consuming or selling that makes sense.
Have a great Black Friday week!
