The day after Thanksgiving, the average US consumer is associated with the purchasing frenzy. The so-called “Black Friday” is an opportunity to take advantage of the many promotions and discounts at local stores and on-line – revenue generated on that day are counted in billions of dollars. But why Black Friday is called “black”?
Long-standing tradition of accountants?
On the etymology of Black Friday circulates a lot of histories, one of them – associated with the ink, paper, and accounting – is one of the most common, and that I would like to bring closer.
At the beginning of the 80s of last century the popularity gained theory that traditional retailers for most of the year generate financial losses (January to November), but making up for it with a vengeance during the holiday season, which in America already starts the day after Thanksgiving. In the old financial books (before the era of computerization) was used widely red ink to show negative amounts, and black, to emphasize the periods in which the revenue was generated.
Therefore, Black Friday is the beginning of the period in which retailers cease to generate losses (red ink) and can enjoy the profits (black ink). The first known description of “the theory of black ink” was released in Philadephia Inqurier of November 28, 1981,
“If a particular day in the year is one of the most important for retailers, why it is called Black Friday? The answer is very simple – than in fact are generated very high revenues in financial documents marked with black ink. Some popularization of this name seek in the media, others in the jargon of workers in retail stores. Employed in these stores have to work on Friday after the Thanksgiving holiday on “overclocked” speeds and much longer than normal – it is a long and “black” day for sellers. “
Christmas shopping season is crucial for US retailers. Of course, they are trying to generate profits in each of the four quarters in a year, but some of them are so dependent on the Christmas frenzy that generates virtually the entire annual profit within these few months – offsetting a loss from earlier quarters.
So we have two theories about the origin of the term Black Friday. One refers to the American tradition of writing in financial books, the second to hard, “black” work of employed in the shops during the day to start the holiday season. Which one of you is more likely?
As a curiosity at the end of this article, given the fact, that the Black Friday was considered so far for the day generating the highest revenues from retail sales was defeated a year ago by Asian Single Day (November 11). Once Black Friday has generated 2014 revenue of “only” $ 5,6mld, the Day of Single has achieved results almost twice bigger only in the first twelve hours of trading!
