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Black Friday: How a Post-Thanksgiving Sale Became a National Obsession
A look at the history of America’s biggest shopping holiday — and where it’s heading next
Black Friday bargain hunters browse for deals on the ground floor of Gimbels in New York on Nov. 5, 1963.
Patrick Burns/The New York Times/Redux
Key takeaways
- Scarcity and urgency fueled the frenzy, turning deal-hunting into an emotional, communal experience.
- Online shopping and Cyber Monday shifted the excitement from store lines to digital deals.
- Today, Black Friday is less about discounts and more about creating shareable experiences.
When Macy’s launched its first holiday parade in 1924 — then called the Christmas Parade, and three years later dubbed the Thanksgiving Day Parade — it wasn’t just pageantry. It was a signal flare for the retail world, capped by Santa Claus waving in the official countdown to Christmas.
“The Thanksgiving Day parade was one of the first experiential marketing moments,” says Barbara Kahn, professor of marketing at the Wharton School at the University of Pennsylvania. “It didn’t say ‘go shop now,’ but it absolutely started the holiday period.”
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Three decades later, Black Friday sparked our nation’s collective obsession with holiday deal-hunting. According to History.com, the term was first used in this context in the 1950s in Philadelphia, where it was coined by police to describe the gridlocked streets and unruly crowds that flooded the city the day after Thanksgiving. Marketers later used accounting terminology to flip the narrative, rebranding Black Friday as the day businesses went from “in the red” to “in the black.”
By the 1980s, that clever spin had stuck: Retailers embraced it, the media amplified it, and shopping became cemented as a post-feast tradition. Lining up and chasing a deal became a quintessential part of the holiday experience.
“People had eaten so much the day before, they had the day off and would want to get out of the house,” says Kahn. “It became this activity — an outing with family.”
Black Friday has since evolved far beyond the shopping mall. What began as a day of discounts has turned into an event unto itself — one that blends commerce with content, nostalgia with novelty and competition with connection. Today, it lives as much on social media as it does in stores, and the thrill isn’t just about saving money anymore — it’s about being part of the moment.
Shoppers rush through the front doors of Target in Orem, Utah, at 6 a.m. on Nov. 23, 2007 to take advantage of Black Friday sales.
Mark Johnston/The Daily Herald/AP Photo
The golden age of Black Friday
By the 1990s and early 2000s, the spectacle of Black Friday had reached new heights. Large crowds camped outside stores, bundled in blankets and clutching thermoses of coffee, waiting for their shot at a Tickle Me Elmo, Furby or Super Nintendo.
Marketers have long known that scarcity, urgency and the illusion of value drive consumer behavior, says Kahn, and Black Friday combined all three. Shoppers loved to feel like they’d beaten the system. Add a ticking clock, marketing blitzes and limited quantities, and the rush intensified, often eclipsing the question of whether a Black Friday “deal” was truly a deal.
In other words, FOMO (fear of missing out) was baked into the experience for Black Friday shoppers. It was also a retailer’s dream. “Once you’re in the store for a doorbuster,” Kahn says, “you’re likely to buy other things that aren’t even on sale.”
Ying Zeng, assistant professor of marketing at the Leeds School of Business at the University of Colorado, says the Black Friday frenzy wasn’t purely economic — it was emotional, too. Consumers are more willing to purchase things they don’t need when they’re not in a carefully calculated mood, she says. The shopping rush became a permission slip, a brief moment when indulgence felt both smart and socially acceptable.
But the communal thrill sometimes veered into chaos. Reports of Black Friday brawls, stampedes and even fatalities have become an indelible part of its legacy. According to the website Black Friday Death Count, there have been 17 deaths and 125 injuries since 2006 — grim reminders of the day’s darker origins.
From lining up to logging in
Then came the internet. In 2005, “Cyber Monday” entered the lexicon. As e-commerce took off, shoppers no longer needed to camp out to feel the thrill of the hunt. By 2024 Americans were spending more than $13 billion shopping online during Cyber Monday events.
“The channels have changed dramatically,” Zeng says. “People used to wait outside stores overnight. Now they can find the best deals online — on websites, apps and even TikTok livestreams.”
Online shopping also brought transparency. If a retailer raises prices before Black Friday and then offers a deceiving discount, shoppers can see through it by using digital price-tracking tools, Zeng explains. At the same time, emails with coupon codes and offers based on your shopping history have made the experience more personalized than ever.
But through the shift to e-commerce, we’ve lost some of the Black Friday luster. Shopping used to be an event, something you did as a family, says Zeng. Now it’s something you do alone on your phone while watching TV, she adds.
The first wave of Black Friday shoppers enters Macy's in New York on Nov. 28, 2008.
Chang W. Lee/The New York Times/Redux
Black November and the end of scarcity
In the early 2010s, retailers began opening their doors for Black Friday earlier and earlier, with some sales starting on Thanksgiving night.
Today, Black Friday is practically a monthlong campaign. Some retailers start sales weeks in advance, delivering a steady stream of discounts. That constant flow of deals has diluted the excitement, says Zeng. Many stores now offer comparable or even better deals on other shopping holidays, she adds.
Culture is the new commerce
Despite the saturation, Black Friday isn’t disappearing — it’s evolving. “It’s still a major moment for retailers,” Zeng says. Brick-and-mortar stores continue to see their highest foot traffic of the year on Black Friday, according to retail technology firm Sensormatic Solutions, and the day still helps retailers move inventory and boost their fourth-quarter revenue.
But the future of Black Friday — and of shopping itself — may depend less on discounts and more on cultural resonance. For Gen Z, the day after Thanksgiving isn’t just about doorbusters, it’s about discovery. Zoomers treat it less like a sale and more like a social event driven by brand values and the promise of sharing it all online.
For many, the excitement around Black Friday’s deals has faded. Younger consumers care less about getting a cheap TV and more about doing something they can share on TikTok, says Kahn.
When platforms like Instagram and TikTok transformed shopping into content — unboxing videos, haul posts and influencer recommendations — the rush to share became as important as the rush to save.
That’s why some retailers are experimenting with influencer collaborations and in-store events designed to spark community and bring back the days of lines around the block. Today, the retailers that thrive on Black Friday are the ones that create a moment, not just a markdown.
A full-circle moment
By rediscovering what made Black Friday special, retailers and shoppers alike are keeping alive the spirit of the biggest shopping event of the year.
“It’s funny,” Kahn says, “it kind of hearkens back to the idea of a parade. Everyone’s out in the community, doing things at the same time. There’s something fun about that.”
In a way, we’ve come full circle — from watching Santa wave in the holiday shopping season to watching influencers livestream their festive finds. The tools have changed, but the purpose remains the same: to gather, to celebrate and to kick off the holidays together.
The key takeaways were created with the assistance of generative AI. An AARP editor reviewed and refined the content for accuracy and clarity.
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