What`s Black in Black Friday

Black Friday is the day when you see huge sales and discounts everywhere. It is not new but for the first time it made me think if this is Black Friday, as every flier says, then why is it so commercially important that it has to be celebrated? Have we become economically imbecile that we would want to capitalize on every good and black Friday, not the least demarcating what is for the festivities and what is for sombre? I am going to give here the exact meaning and a bit of history of black Friday and would let you decide on its commercial exploitation.

Black Friday is termed as black because it symbolizes profit numbers as red symbolizes loss

I have made a mistake on the explanation of Black Friday. I was under the impression that this day has something to do with someone dying, the market crashing or a very sad event that no one wants to buy on that day so the retailers have to give extra discounts to get the ball rolling. Off course, this connotation comes from 1869 gold market crash on a Friday, but it was September 24th and certainly not the last Friday of every November. But ask if you may to anyone and they would recall the same or similar stock market or gold market crash in early ages. So, yes, it has a somber beginning. But not in the present world. Today, Black Friday is a celebrated day that comes after the Thanksgiving celebrations and marks the start of the shopping season for the much awaited year end Christmas festivities.

So why in black? As noted on investopedia, its called Black Friday because it marks the start of profitability for the businesses. Every business in town carves for early depletion of its stock so it fumes the shopping stamina by early discounts and giving big deals. In finance, when something (a number) appears in red, it is a loss. A number in black is a profit. Hence, the same logic is applied. Black means good here and not the least of common assumption that is something from the wrong side.

Coming back to the fliers that I found today morning, I saw some great deals. And I even saw more than a few dollars discountérebate cards attached with deals. I was not particularly looking for an item to buy but the deals were so lucrative that I could not resist and went to a particular store to check out (I don't want my readers to get bored with what I was checking out). But I also noticed that some retailers are offering midnight deals. This, I thought was madness. I live in a small city and like every small city, it sleeps after 9:00 pm. If you mistakenly go out after 9 at night, you would barely find a retail outlet open or a McDonald serving. All you would get is a take away. So, in a city like this, when I see a midnight deal, I was amusingly surprised. More so, because it was for the same product I was planning to check out. Is is tempting? Or is it too much of an offer? I let you decide.