What is Black Friday? History, importance and more

We’re approaching the end of 2024 and we all know what that means… holidays, Christmas, and shopping. Luckily, you can get a head start on all your end-of-year shopping with Black Friday, a day filled with highly anticipated sales and limited deals in late November.

But first, what is Black Friday, and how is it integrated with Australian retail? Find out all the answers here.

Not everyone's familiar with Black Friday sales in Australia, particularly if you’re new to the country. But every year it gets more popular as more and more retailers offer deals timed for Black Friday and Aussie shoppers have responded enthusiastically.

Black Friday is held on the same day every year – the Friday after Thanksgiving in the U.S. (which is traditionally the fourth Thursday of November). The Black Friday sales period has extended well beyond a day and now stretches approximately two weeks for many retailers.

The Optus Black Friday deals for example, will run from 18 November to 2 December 2024, inclusive.

In Australia, Black Friday’s spectacular deals have quickly become a nationwide retail event that mark the start of the Christmas shopping season, rivalling even Boxing Day and End of Financial Year sales.

In fact, the Australian Bureau of Statistics (ABS) reports that during Black Friday last year many “consumers held back on discretionary spending in October to take advantage of discounts in November. Shoppers may have also brought forward some Christmas spending that would usually happen in December.”

Find out how you can get your Christmas shopping done early during Black Friday.

Well, there are a few theories.

Some believe the name Black Friday came from retailers going from being in the "red" (losing money) to back in the "black" (making money) when, the day after Thanksgiving in the US, sales attracted shoppers to stores in droves.

Others believe the Black Friday term refers to the September 1869 market crash caused by US investors, Jay Gould and Jim Fisk, when they drove up the price of gold only to tank the US stock exchange.

Despite all the possible reasons behind the name, today Black Friday signifies one main thing – shopping.

A phenomenon now spread to the entire world, Black Friday is one of, if not the, busiest shopping day of the year. As a result, the day often marks a significant surge in retail turnover and consumer expenditure, impacting the overall yearly performance of the economy and helping economists measure the health of the retail industry.

In Australia, Black Friday has a great economic impact on the retail industry. The ABS also found that retail turnover rose 2.0 per cent (seasonally adjusted) in November 2023.

You’ve probably seen movie scenes where shoppers storm department stores and shopping malls trampling one another and fighting over bargains. This might seem like an exaggeration, but not always.

Minor injuries are common among US shoppers during Black Friday, and sometimes shoppers even sustain serious injuries due to intentional violence.  

These days it’s easy to shop online to browse and grab Black Friday bargains from the comfort of your home (or wherever you are), delivered straight to your door.

Ah…nice.

Get some tips to get the best Black Friday deals during the Black Friday sales period.

Black Friday has now ended. Check out our latest deals.

^{This article was first published on 13 November 2023.}