A retail trend known as Black Friday is a day when enormous discounts are offered to celebrate seasonal shopping for consumers annually. However, technological advances have significantly depicted a different atmosphere on Black Friday.
The day after Thanksgiving, consumers have traditionally crowded up malls and retail stores to purchase items on sale. Most Black Friday shoppers camp outside the night of the event which takes up nearly the whole block. Consequently, products are often fought over with others which picture a chaotic and overwhelming environment. This signifies that consumers are willing to do anything for deals on items they would like to buy.
“In online sales, people are less likely to run to stores to get the deal that they can probably get online,” economics teacher Mr. Shein stated. “Also the negative press with waiting in line for one item that again you can probably get online.
“I was never really a Black Friday shopper but again it has changed,” economics teacher Mr. Shein added. “I would rather shop online for a product where I can look for more variety than I can in a store and I don’t have to physically go there”
The implementation of online shopping has made purchasing products way more convenient than going to stores in person. Apple Pay and Google Pay are additional aspects that have made phone shopping easier, with a simple double-click on the power button. Approximately 90.6 million Americans online shopped on Black Friday 2023, which indicates that a large amount of people prefer online shopping. Due to the circumstances of millions of Americans staying at home, not many individuals are as eager to fight over products in person anymore. On the other hand, prices have also changed with the transition to online shopping.
“It hasn’t changed that much but I get more and more unmotivated to shop on Black Friday,” senior Eve Smith expressed. “The prices are good but I feel like recently even though there’s a sale it’s still a bit expensive.”
As the years progressed, the concept of Black Friday has drastically changed with marketing strategies to gain more consumers. Most corporations typically raise their prices the month before Black Friday and lower the prices to make buyers believe it has been discounted. Large corporations such as Amazon, Best Buy, Macy’s, and multiple other companies have shown evident changes in price before Black Friday and during the start of Black Friday sales. Therefore, most consumers find that purchasing items before seasonal discounts saves them a lot more money.
“It is not the same at all, everything is still the same price, they’re lying to me,” senior Mickey Ye said. “Because back then they actually had real deals but now they’re the same price with the sale label.”
Individuals are frustrated with how much Black Friday has changed. The word “sale” has lost its meaning, and it is now thrown around to attract more customers. This shows that not only did the advancement of technology make a huge impact on consumerism for holidays like Black Friday, it also changed the idea of the event.
