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Black Friday is a shopping event that originated in the United States and occurs the day after Thanksgiving, which marks the start of the Christmas shopping season.
The event has now achieved worldwide importance and is no longer limited to the USA. Several ecommerce giants like Amazon are now taking advantage of Black Friday to offer deals to shoppers in India and around the world to meet their shopping needs over the holiday season.
Shopping websites are now offering their customers a range of deals on Black Friday. This includes discounts on a wide variety of products including electronics, smartphones, televisions, laptops, consoles, kitchen appliances, clothing, beauty, and music, to name a few.
Black Friday falls on November 26th this year. Here is everything you need to know about it.
How did Black Friday start?
Black Friday gained popularity in the US in the mid-2000s, when online shopping was still in its infancy. The increased use of the World Wide Web resulted in a surge in online sales that began to compete with and have now overtaken physical store sales.
Over the years, the global shopping boom has resulted in several parts of the world watching their own Black Friday holiday events, just as conventional retailers officially adopted the holiday and flooded their stores with hordes of shoppers.
A study by Adobe Analytics found that global online spending this season was expected to be $ 910 billion from Adobe on October 20th.
Why is it called Black Friday?
In the 1960s, the Philadelphia Police Department began using the term “Black Friday” to refer to the day between Thanksgiving and an annual Army-Navy football game. That Friday, hordes of people would populate the city and the police would have to work for extended periods of time to cover the groups and the traffic.
It is said that sellers tried to change the name of the holiday to “Big Friday” which never caught on.
How big is it in the UK?
Boxing Day is traditionally considered the biggest shopping day of the year in the UK. However, several US retailers like Amazon started US-style Black Friday promotions in 2014, which resulted in more UK retailers adopting the concept, including John Lewis and Argos.
This year, police forces have been called to shops across the UK to address crowd control issues, assault, threatening customers and traffic issues.
Since then, Black Friday has become a major event in the UK. In 2016, the total spend on online retail sites on Black Friday was $ 1.6 billion (£ 1.23 billion).
Is Black Friday celebrated in India?
In India, the whole concept of Black Friday is relatively new. The event sometimes coincides with the celebration of the country’s Hindu festivals.
The busiest times to shop in India – and therefore the times when retailers offer the greatest discounts – are usually the months of October and November. This is due to the Diwali festival, followed by regional festivals such as Durga Puja in the state of West Bengal, Ugadi and Pongal in the southern Indian states, and Ganeshotsav in the state of Maharashtra.
Black Friday falls within a fitting festive window for shoppers across the country already on the lookout for the best deals.
Just like in the UK, a growing number of e-commerce websites and large international retail malls such as Amazon, Walmart, Alibaba and eBay have contributed to Black Friday’s popularity in the South Asian country.
India-based shopping platforms such as Nykaa and Flipkart also started offering sales that day.
Is it worth shopping in India on Black Friday?
According to a 2019 survey by Finder.com, a financial services company, 58 percent of Indians believe Black Friday shopping is great value for them. According to the survey, 30 percent of shoppers are willing to queue up overnight to get a bargain on Black Friday.
According to Finder.com, Amazon was the most sought after ecommerce website in India. Another in-demand retailer for Black Friday that the financial services firm mentioned was video game digital distributor Steam and Flipkart, Amazon’s rival in India.
As of now, Amazon India is promoting many Black Friday bargains on a range of electronic devices such as Fitbit watches, headphones, projectors, and laptops among others.
The retail giant is offering deals earlier than ever to avoid delivery delays due to the Covid-19 pandemic. This means customers can now get record-low prices on products from brands such as Nike, Apple, HP and Sony.
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