What is the significance of the term "Black Friday"?

Black Friday 2022 is only a month away, which means the year's biggest sales will be here before you know it. While Black Friday used to be a single day in November when people would queue outside their favourite stores to buy discounted tech, home goods, apparel, and other items, things have changed dramatically.

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In recent years, it has evolved from a single day to a multi-week event that now lasts nearly the entire month of November. With a second Amazon Prime Day confirmed for October, things could get underway even sooner this year.

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The term "black" has been used to describe distressing or calamitous events throughout history. The term "Black Friday" was first used to refer to the practise of workers calling in sick on the Friday after Thanksgiving in the early 1950s. Around the same time, US cops coined the phrase to describe traffic conditions on the first major holiday shopping day.

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The official Black Friday date is November 25, 2022. Many doorbuster deals and ultra-limited-time offers will go live early on this date and run through the weekend, while supplies last.

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Following the failure of attempts to shift to the term "Big Friday," merchants attempted to improve the term Black Friday in subsequent years, implying that its origin was not due to the poor traffic conditions created by the shopping day, but because the profit it generated put stores "back in the black" in financial terms.

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