Discover the Hype: Top 9 Unbelievable Fun Facts About Black Friday You Never Knew

1. Financial Fiasco of 1869

Before gold fever struck the hearts of shoppers everywhere, it scorched the pockets of scheming financiers: Black Friday was initially coined to describe the financial meltdown of September 24, 1869, when Jay Gould and Jim Fisk's devious plot to skyrocket gold prices for personal profit blew up in their faces, causing a catastrophic market collapse and a financial pandemonium.
Source => history.com

2. Thanksgiving Date Debate

In a real-life tale of "Let's change the date and see what happens," a simple shift in turkey day celebrations had Americans gobbling up controversy: In 1939, President Franklin D. Roosevelt moved Thanksgiving to the fourth Thursday in November, causing a national uproar, until Congress passed a law in 1941 cementing the date for a unified holiday.
Source => docs.fdrlibrary.marist.edu

Did you know that Australians swap snowmen for sandcastles during their Christmas celebrations? With sunny beaches, BBQs, and a surfing Santa, the holiday season Down Under is a unique and warm experience! 🏄‍♂️🎄🇦🇺

=> Fun Facts about Christmas-Around-The-World

3. Deadly Game of Twister

Ever heard of the most dangerous game of Twister? That's right; it's the annual Black Friday shopping extravaganza: From 2006 to 2018, there were 44 Black Friday-related incidents in the US, leading to 11 deaths and 108 injuries – that's an average of one death and nine injuries per year among the billions of shopping visits during that period.
Source => thehustle.co

4. Cyber Monday Takeover

Move over, Black Friday– Cyber Monday's got your Internet cookies: What started as a 2004 research observation became an international marketing phenomenon when Ellen Davis and Scott Silverman coined the term Cyber Monday in a Shop.org press release on November 28, 2005; by 2020, it brought in a record-breaking $10.7 billion, solidifying itself as the biggest online shopping day in U.S. history.
Source => en.wikipedia.org

5. Wallet Warriors Unleashed

Step aside, wallet warriors and shopaholics on steroids: Black Friday 2020 had U.S. consumers splashing a mind-blowing $9.0 billion on online shopping, shattering previous records with a 21.6% increase from the year before, and scoring the silver medal as the second-largest online spending day in U.S. history, right after Cyber Monday 2019.
Source => abcnews.go.com

6. Police Origins of "Black Friday"

Before GPS was created to navigate through traffic jams, police officers were orchestrating the chaos of countless carriages: The term "Black Friday" was coined by the Philadelphia Police Department, who used it to describe the madness that ensued the day after Thanksgiving, attributed to the start of Christmas shopping, school closures, and an influx of out-of-towners visiting for the Army-Navy football game. This led to hectic traffic, requiring street intersections to be manned by multiple officers, 12-hour shifts, and even the police band redirecting traffic, with two reporters popularizing the term in a front-page story for the Evening Bulletin. Today, Black Friday remains synonymous with the busiest shopping day of the year.
Source => inquirer.com

7. Canadian Shopping Civility

While our friends up North are known for being polite and hockey fanatics, it seems they've mastered the art of courteous shopping mayhem as well: Canadians maintain their calm during Black Friday sales, avoiding the stampeding chaos seen in the United States and resulting in smaller, more orderly crowds.
Source => diggitmagazine.com

8. Online Sales Frenzy

As shoppers stormed the virtual aisles with the fervor of a caffeinated squirrel hoarding for the winter, Black Friday 2020 brought the cash registers a-ring-a-linging: Online sales in the US hit a record-smashing $9 billion—a whopping 22% increase from the previous year, and it wasn't just Americans going nuts for those sweet, sweet deals.
Source => referralcandy.com

9. Best Bargain Bamboozle

Feeling bamboozled in the shopping pandemonium of slashed prices and doorbuster deals? Fear not, deal hunters: it turns out that 65% of American shoppers are unsure if they're actually nabbing the best bargains on Black Friday, but fret not, as the average in-store discount hovers around 20%, escalating to a spectacular 37% on Thanksgiving and Black Friday, while online deals offer an average discount of 34%. So keep calm, carry a calculator, and prepare to be a strategic shopper in that frenzied race for festive savings.
Source => duncangrp.com