As Canadians, we’re used to “excuse me,” “sorry,” and other over the top cordial behaviour that has been coined “a Canadian thing.” Nevertheless, Canadians have adopted the idea of Black Friday, originally blossoming in the United States. Albeit Canadian culture doesn’t condone the rambunctiousness that comes with Black Friday in America, it has become quite the holiday and marketing opportunity for us.
But where did the term “Black Friday” come from? How did this deal-crazed shopping tradition come to be? The term was coined in the 1960s to officially launch the Christmas shopping season. The more popular explanation is referred to as moving from the “red” to the “black.” Back then, accounting records were recorded manually. Red ink was used to indicate a loss, and black ink indicated profit. Even before the term came to be, the Friday after thanksgiving has been known as the unofficial start to a chaotic holiday shopping season.
Where do Canadians fit in to the Black Friday fun? In 2008, when the dollar was at an all time high, retailers in Canada began taking advantage of Black Friday deals to discourage people from shopping elsewhere. However, Black Friday in the United States still offered more extreme price cuts even for the same international retailers.
Regardless of the word of mouth and chaos that still surrounds the event, numbers are declining. Stores are fighting restrictions on opening times and violence is becoming increasingly worse. Extensions on Black Friday deals have been implemented in hopes to curb the incessant violent outbursts by deal-driven shoppers.
Cyber Monday is a term that was created by a marketing firm for shop.org in 2007, and it has snowballed into an international marketing term used by online retailers across the world. Canada, Chile, Colombia and Argentina are some of the Countries already taking advantage of the term. Typically, smaller retailers that can’t compete with big box companies implement Cyber Monday. It also focuses more on clothing and fashion while its counterpart, Black Friday, tends to focus on electronics.
Cyber Monday sales continue to grow substantially, reaching a record of 2.98 billion in 2015. However, Black Friday still holds the title as one of the most profitable shopping days of the year. Here’s a look at some clever Black Friday marketing techniques.
Target
Target integrated Point Inside’s StoreMode™ platform to deliver best-in-class shopping lists and store map features
Lowe’s
Lowe’s Planned to reveal 11 Black Friday deals during a 20-minute segment on Facebook Live on Saturday. Lowe’s has been running video ads on Facebook for the last two weeks to push the livestream event, which is called “Mystery Box Bonanza.”
Rei Co-Op
#OptOutside, which centered on the outdoor retailer and consumer cooperative’s decision to close all 143 locations on Black Friday in 2015 and pay its 12,000 employees “so they can do what they love most—be outside.”
Patagonia
Patagonia who donates 1% of all earnings to the environment has pledge to donate 100% of sales when you shop with them this Black Friday.
Amazon
Amazon wants Echo to be adopted widely by consumers, there will be similar Alexa-only deals for Black Friday and Cyber Monday to go along with its numerous other holiday-based specials.
