Thanksgiving falls on the fourth Thursday each year. Many people look forward to this holiday because it signifies a time when families can spend break time together. However, there is one other day around this time that is even more anticipated: Black Friday. This much anticipated day falls on the Friday right after each Thanksgiving and gives shoppers hearty promotional sales as they get ready to shop for the Christmas season. Black Friday is regarded as the busiest shopping day of each year as people flock into stores in hopes of claiming rare deals. Since Black Friday has been around for a long time, no one questions its existence anymore and instead people embrace it as one of their favorite days. But how did this day come about?

   Ever since the mid-twentieth century, the day after Thanksgiving has been referred to as the beginning of the Christmas shopping season because the next major holiday after Thanksgiving is, indeed, Christmas. Stores open at extremely late or early hours and offer appealing deals that consumers are unlikely to find on any other day. This causes an imaginable number of customers to rush to different stores late at night in hopes of snatching those promotions for themselves. Many people believe that the term “Black Friday” originated from usage by policemen on the discussed date. As shoppers practically fight to their death, it is easily imaginable how chaotic and dangerous the situation can become. As a matter of fact, numerous injuries and incidents recorded link to Black Fridays. Nonetheless, this does not deter determined shoppers from taking advantage of this day.

   As the age of technology progressed, many people started to prefer shopping via online stores. Thus, Cyber Monday was developed as a marketing strategy that targets online shoppers. Cyber Monday occurs on the Monday after Thanksgiving, and its concept is modeled after the same promotional nature as Black Friday. Both Black Friday and Cyber Monday give rare opportunities to shop effectively. Did you take advantage of these two days this year?