Well, shall we save? Black Friday is coming and that can only mean one thing - the biggest sale is about to start! For you, we have prepared the most useful tips and answered the questions that interest every shopaholic: what does Black Friday mean, when will it be, what stores will offer best discounts and how to shop for maximum profit. So, first things first.

Black Friday - what is it? Shops all over the world offer huge discounts on this day, whether you want to buy new shoes, a TV or even medical equipment. Originating in the US, the tradition quickly spread, and now the day that kicks off Christmas shopping is considered an unofficial holiday in many countries.

Shops on this day open earlier - at 5-6 in the morning, and some start working from midnight. Naturally, the quantity of goods, the discount on which reaches 80%, is limited. Therefore, in the US, it is quite normal to see huge queues in front of stores where Black Friday takes place, starting to form the day before the day of sales.

According to Wikipedia, Black Friday did not always mean the day of discounts in stores - the term originally appeared in Philadelphia - this is how they talked about traffic jams after Thanksgiving. In the usual sense for us, Black Friday appeared in the 60s, and is called so thanks to the idiom “intheblack”, which means profit. Traditionally, American store owners write down income items with a black pen and expenses with a red pen. The name more than justifies itself - on this day, the profit of stores increases by hundreds of percent.

Black Friday date is not fixed calendar day, it falls on the fourth Friday of November, that is, the day after the American Thanksgiving holiday.

Many stores keep discounts for the entire weekend, right up to Cyber ​​Monday, so even those who can’t take the day off and go shopping still have a chance to get things at a discount.

The date of Black Friday in 2018 is November 23rd. When buying via the Internet on this day, be very careful - somewhere discounts start at midnight, somewhere later. As a rule, before this day, a timer appears on the main page, counting down the time until discounts appear.

We owe the largest sale, Black Friday, as well as discounts in general, to Frank Woolworth. Working as a salesman in a store, it was he who, at the end of the 19th century, came up with new system- he put the stale goods in one box, on which he wrote: "everything is $ 5." What's strange about this? At that time, there was no such thing as a fixed price at all - a person went into a store, and the seller assessed his solvency by appearance and named the price.

Later, the analytics of buying activity came into the trade - it became clear that it was the last month of the year that accounted for the largest revenue. And Black Friday was born, in fact, by itself - after Thanksgiving, people began to take days off so that they had four days to buy gifts for Christmas, before everyone sorted out the rest. Pragmatic American merchants immediately realized how to take advantage of this!

The birth date of Black Friday, in the usual sense, dates back to 1996, when the expression BlackFriday began to mean nothing more than the day when stores kick off their Christmas sales.

Black Friday in the US and Canada is a real holiday. Which is not surprising, because it is in these countries that stores offer maximum discounts, and queues in front of shopping centers sometimes begin to line up even a few days before the opening, people put up tents and stock up on food so that no one takes their place. The record was set by an American woman who spent two weeks in front of the store to buy a TV when Black Friday came. Many take days off from work, planning to spend this day on bargain shopping.

In general, Black Friday in America is a rather cruel event. On the Web, you can find thousands of videos and photos of how a crazy crowd breaks into stores. It does not do without fractures, sometimes even people are trampled to death. Fortunately, every year more and more measures are taken to properly organize these sales, so that the event is more civilized.

For our compatriots, the chance to take advantage of special offers from American stores is online shopping. Choose the largest sites and famous brands in order to save as much as possible on the purchase of a truly high-quality item.

We have such a tradition appeared relatively recently: Black Friday in Moscow and other major cities Russia has been celebrated since 2010. If for the USA Black Friday is the beginning of sales for Christmas, then our compatriots buy gifts for the New Year on this day.

Many are looking for which stores will have Black Friday, while taking into account only the sellers of clothes and gadgets. In fact, on this day you can buy anything cheap: air tickets, special equipment, cars, etc. You can even book hotel rooms or order food to take home for half the price. Many stores offer specials on this day.

Black Friday in Russia 2018 is mainly online orders. It’s just worth considering one important nuance - when it’s midnight in the USA and sales start, it’s already 7 in the morning in Moscow. So those who focus mainly on American stores should not forget about time zones.

It is already known for sure that at a discount it will be possible to purchase health products at, clothes at and, cosmetics at and sports equipment at SportMaster. In advance, as already mentioned, it is quite difficult to get information about all discounts, so on the day of sales it is better to look at the websites of all your favorite stores. It will help to speed up the process, where you can not only quickly navigate through thousands of offers, but also get cashback.

Stores do not publish in advance the entire list of products that can be bought at a discount, a maximum of two or three items, in order to stir up interest. So it is almost impossible to immediately decide where and what you will buy. But if you know exactly what product you need, then you can use one of the price monitoring services, like Competera, Metacommerce and Pentagon. Moreover, we advise you to look at the dynamics of prices in advance in order to immediately weed out sellers who overestimate the cost of their goods, so that they can then sell them at an imaginary discount.

You can follow the information on our resource - all news about upcoming discounts in the largest stores will be published. We also recommend visiting the websites of the stores and brands themselves - there may also be helpful information. So, it is already known that Apple is preparing a special surprise for the 2018 sale night. Details are yet to be revealed, but the company has confirmed that limited editions of the iPhone 8 will be sold at a $200 discount, as well as the new iPhone X, which will save $300 extra on a bundled card.

Tracking discounts is also convenient on the Black Friday website, which was created specifically for quick tracking of discounts. On this day, all information about price reductions in online stores participating in Black Friday will be published there. True, he also has a minus - when you go to stores from this site, you will not be able to get a cashback.

Even if you don't plan to visit shopping centers and for you, black Friday is the day of online shopping, you should not visit sites “at random”, choosing from random goods what can be bought cheaper. It’s not a fact that you will really save money, but the chances of buying unnecessary trash are growing exponentially.

Offline purchases should not be spontaneous either - go through stores that have announced sales in advance. If we are talking about clothes, then you can try everything on, see, evaluate the quality. A big plus is that you will know in advance where the goods you need are located, and then you will not waste time in vain.

Another important advice: choose correctly. If you want to buy an expensive quality item, then you should study its features in advance. For example, there are even, guided by which you can be sure that they will serve you for more than one season. Black Friday is when you have a great chance to buy a branded and really high-quality item at a ridiculous price.

By the way, it is better not to buy children's toys during the Black Friday sale - their prices traditionally drop even lower just before Christmas (in American stores) and New Year (in Russia and Ukraine).

You should find out in advance which stores participate in Black Friday. Let's say you need household appliances, and M.Video is also located in the nearest shopping center. Do not be too lazy to go to the sites and find out if there will be discounts. Please note that many stores offer the best prices for online shoppers. You can order goods on the site, get a discount and cashback, and after one or two days, calmly and without fuss, pick up your purchase at the nearest office.

When it comes to, then pay attention to large trading platforms. The biggest discounts can be found in American stores, so you should definitely visit Amazon and. It is important to remember one more thing here: if you plan to shop not in a separate store, but on a large trading platform that brings together hundreds of sellers, then it is important not only to choose a product, but also to check how conscientious the seller is in front of you. For this, there are ratings and reviews, do not forget to read this information.

Preparing to shop for Black Friday 2018: shopping hacks

It's time to move on to useful tips! Experienced shopaholics, over the years of participating in sales, have compiled a kind of set of rules that will help you get the right things at the lowest possible prices.

Do you know the main problem of all shopaholics? They spend more than they can afford. No wonder, it's so hard to resist spending your entire salary on the day of huge discounts ... The solution is simple - prepare in advance for the Black Friday sale and allocate a certain amount that you can spend.

It is best to divide it into 2 parts: the first is what you can spend without any fear for the family budget, the second is if you found a very good offer for a thing that you didn’t plan to buy now, but you definitely need it. In any case, you cannot spend more than this amount, and if you doubt your own willpower, transfer it to another card or electronic wallet so as not to accidentally spend more.

Check prices in advance

Why doesn't Black Friday bring the same expected benefits to everyone? Sellers like to play tricks and raise prices a few days before the sale, then to attract customers with big discounts.

If you are used to buying things on certain trading floors, like, you should look in advance at the average prices for the product you are interested in and decide on the list of sellers that cause the greatest confidence. So it will be easier for you to navigate when the day of discounts comes.

It is also worth looking at the products on the sites in advance because new site hard to get straight to the point. If you have never bought before, for example, at, but you know that big discounts are expected there, then you need to deal with the interface and filters in advance so as not to waste time on this later.

In the US, Black Friday starts before the stores open - people stand in lines for several hours to be the first to buy promotional goods. Everything is not quite the same with us, but it’s still better to come to the store as early as possible.

By the way, it is in Russia that many shopping centers start sales at 19.00 Thursday, so it is important to find out in advance what time and in which stores Black Friday takes place.

Buy fast

This applies not only to purchases in shopping centers, but also online - a product with a tempting price tag can simply end. Moreover, it is worth remembering that a special system of discounts is also characteristic of Black Friday - the store management looks at purchasing activity and changes price tags in real time, so when you see the right thing with a good discount, you should not hesitate for a long time.

Clothing and electronics are considered to be the hottest items on Black Friday in stores, so get ready for competition!

Keep track of personal items

In the turmoil that traditionally accompanies large sales, pickpockets are actively "working". It is better to keep wallets, phones and credit cards in inside pockets, and putting a bag “for a minute” near the counter is a very bad idea.

You should not wear expensive jewelry - yes, everything is not as “fun” here as in the USA, but losing a watch or bracelet is more than easy.

Is it possible to go to the sale with someone from your family? Fine! Knowing what date Black Friday is, you can decide in advance who goes to which stores and departments and what they buy. Needed goods they are quickly dismantled, so alone you are much less likely to have time to buy everything at the lowest prices.

The same can be said about online shopping. When Black Friday takes place simultaneously in all stores, you can simply not have time to buy a product that initially comes in limited quantities. Therefore, it is better to distribute stores among several people.

When shopping online, pay attention to the terms of delivery. Many stores provide the opportunity to buy the desired item on the site, and pick it up later in a regular store. This option is the most convenient, because you do not have to stand in lines and hope that the promotional goods will not be taken apart.

When buying in foreign online stores, you should give priority to large international services delivery. Yes, you will have to pay a little extra, but you will be sure that the goods will arrive safe and sound, will be delivered directly to your home, and you will be able to track it all the way.

By the way, it is better to track the parcel through special aggregator sites, since different services will be responsible for the cargo throughout the entire journey. For example, after crossing the border, a package from the United States will no longer be tracked on the USPS website, and aggregators have access to information from all services. After the purchase and until the package has been delivered, you will need to carefully monitor the buyer protection period and, if necessary, open a dispute. If the parcel does not arrive after the protection period has expired, it is most likely that you will not be able to return the money.

Paid delivery by courier services gives you another priority - you can safely buy gifts for the New Year in this way, they will definitely arrive on time. Many people make the mistake of buying goods on the same Aliexpress with regular delivery by China Post, hoping that they will have time to reach in a month. Alas, when Black Friday passes, the mails are overloaded, so it's not a fact that the purchases will come by the end of January. But if you still don’t want to spend money on paid delivery, you can think about presents for February 23 and March 8 - by this time you will definitely have orders.

What promotions will be next

Of course, Cyber ​​Monday! The actions held on this day are not so large-scale, but this can even be a plus, especially for Russians. Black Friday 2018 in the US, as usual, will mostly concern offline stores, and on Monday the same goods can be purchased with the same discount online.

Then there is a week of rest, at this time you rarely see big discounts, so you have to wait until Christmas. In foreign stores, Christmas promotions are held approximately from December 18 to 24, and in Russia - before the New Year.

As you can see, saving on purchases is very simple! The main thing is not to lose your head over the number of promotions and be smart about choosing a store and goods.

And Black Friday is here

In Russia, they began to spend Black Friday - a day of grand sales, which is traditionally held after Thanksgiving. Thousands of shops around the world take part in the action.

10 questions

1. What to do on Black Friday? 2. How did Black Friday / Black Friday? 3. Why is the beginning of the sales season called Black Friday? 4. Is it really profitable to buy on Black Friday? 5. How are Black Friday discounts arranged? 6. How not to go crazy on Black Friday? 7. Which countries should you visit for Black Friday sales? 8. How is it profitable to buy goods in American online stores while living in Russia? 9. Why do people like Steve Jobs and Mark Zuckerberg wear the same clothes all the time? 10. Why is Black Friday evil?

To buy or not to buy - that is the question and the answer.

Today you celebrate black friday- enthusiastically dive into the abyss of great offers, discounts, “buy three for the price of two”, “red price”, sale, DISCOUNTS, “only today”, “offer is limited”, “but give mom a New Year let's take it, DISCOUNTS DISCOUNTS - and then the purchasing fever ends, with it all the forces leave, because nothing more is wanted from life from the flickering in the eyes. (You can read more about Black Friday discounts).

Or you can defiantly ignore this consumer madness and celebrate, together with the progressive part of society, the international Day without shopping(Buy Nothing Day), which is held in the USA and Canada instead of Black Friday, and in Europe - the next day, that is, on Saturday. How to celebrate Day without shopping? Very easy - just don't do anything, don't make any purchases. Subway rides don't count, but for the sake of experimentation, try hitchhiking or walking. More advanced young people can take part in protest actions. You can read about the evils of Black Friday.

What else can you do on this day? Devote time to family and friends, play board games, go for a walk, discuss the centenary of the October Revolution. Or for yourself - arrange a meditation, focusing on the destruction of capitalism. Watch sobering documentaries about modern world: Koyaanisqatsi (1982), Baraka (1992), Surplus: Terrorized Into Being Consumers (2003). Think a lot, cry, rejoice, just don't buy anything!

2/10 How did Black Friday come about?

The concept of "Black Friday", associated with Christmas discounts, came from the United States, where it is traditionally called the day after Thanksgiving (celebrated on the fourth Thursday of November). Black Friday, therefore, falls at the end of November, is not an official holiday, but marks the beginning of Christmas discounts and crazy sales in stores. Many stores on this day open their doors to customers at midnight and offer discounts on goods up to 90%. If the Christmas sales themselves appeared massively in the United States in the 19th century, then the term "Black Friday" has been used since about the 60s. XX century.

There are several versions of the origin of this term, two of them are most famous:

1. Popular version: the term "black" appeared due to the way of reporting. In the ledgers, losses were written in red ink, while profits were written in black. On the days of sales, the profits of stores and banks increased significantly, black ink prevailed in the reporting.

2. Plausible version: the Philadelphia police gave the name to this day. The first day after Thanksgiving, huge traffic jams arose due to massive sales and visits to relatives. The usual number of police officers simply could not cope with the flow of cars, and additional forces had to be brought in to maintain order on the roads. hard work after holiday no one likes, so Friday is "black". This version, as the most plausible, is supported, for example, by the American linguist and journalist for The Wall Street Journal, Ben Zimmer. He also notes that due to the negative connotation, merchants have repeatedly attempted to rename “Black Friday” to a more positive version of “Big Friday”, but these attempts were unsuccessful and the term “Black Friday” eventually took root.

3/10 Why is the beginning of the sales season called Black Friday?

There are several versions.

The most common story is that retailers used to write losses in red ink and profits in black ink on their ledgers. On the days of sales after a hearty Thanksgiving, people spent so much money that the sellers finally went into an unconditional plus (“went into the black”).

There is another myth: some say that in the 19th century, plantation owners could buy black slaves at a discount. But according to the data, there is no real basis for this version.

The truth is this:

In the 1950s, the city of Philadelphia played football every Saturday after Thanksgiving (the last Thursday in November) between an Army team and a Navy team. On the eve of the match - that is, on Friday - the city was flooded with hordes of buyers, fans and tourists, which added to the local police huge problems: not only could they not take a day off, but also worked overtime, trying to cope with crowds of people and traffic. In addition, taking advantage of the chaos, thieves who robbed stores became more active. All in all, a rainy day.

Later, the term "Black Friday" was tried to be changed into "Big Friday", but did not take root. By some miracle, by the mid-80s, they managed to get rid of the negative veil of the Philadelphia events (the version about black ink was just introduced) and Black Friday became what it is now - a day of total sales. Or rather, not even a day, but four days, the last of which - Cyber ​​Monday - is famous for special discounts on equipment.

4/10 Is it really profitable to buy on Black Friday?

Yes, during the period of big sales, including Black Friday, you can profitably purchase goods or services. For stores, participation in such promotions is one of the ways to promote their goods and services. On the one hand, the promotion helps to increase sales, on the other hand, to attract the attention of new customers and increase the level of loyalty of current customers. At the same time, one part of the costs goes to promote the promotion, and the second is considered as lost profit due to a deeper discount on the product or service. Sometimes the goods in such promotions are sold at “zero” or even at a loss.”

5/10 How are Black Friday discounts arranged?

Black Friday is not really one Friday, but three days of sales that start at midnight on November 24th. Several domains are registered in Russia at once, and AKIT (Association of Internet Trade Companies) supports realblackfriday.ru. The bottom line is this: the largest retailers (M.Video, Svyaznoy, Eldorado, Media Markt and others) are registered on the sales site, so you can quickly buy equipment at a discount in one place. The same sales are available on dedicated retailer sites.

The organizers of the emergency traditionally promise "discounts up to 90%", but you need to understand that in reality there are practically no such discounts. Two options are possible: a 90% discount on an obsolete illiquid product, such as a two-year-old smartphone case, or on an extremely limited number of goods.

That is, formally 10 people will be able to buy something relevant at a big discount. The rest, who were set to buy, are more likely to purchase this product with the usual discounts, for example, 15-20%, and retailers are counting on this, declaring 90%. You need to understand that no one plans to trade at a loss.

Also, participation in a large-scale event provides an opportunity to attract additional attention of buyers to the retailer's assortment. If you came to a discount, say, on a smartphone, then it is likely to pay attention to accessories, or even to household appliances.

I would advise you to pay attention to the original price of the goods before the start of sales, since a frequent reception is a crossed out overpriced and supposedly a discount of more than 50%, although before the sale the goods were much cheaper.

Nevertheless, even taking into account not the most honest methods and the promised 90% discounts, sales in the state of emergency are quite profitable and, on average, equipment is much cheaper than on ordinary days. So if you were planning a purchase, then it is quite possible to follow the offers on aggregator sites like realblackfriday. Only the range is really hot goods with noticeable discounts is small, so the speed of selection also plays a big role.

6/10 How not to go crazy on Black Friday?

You need to think in advance what exactly you need and put everything in the basket, and then during the promotion go to the basket and make purchases. If the postponed goods do not fall under discounts, then you need to look at analogues.

When shopping offline - the same thing, I usually always make a list of what I need on my phone and buy from it, having figured out in advance what and in which store I can buy.

But if you like a thing, and like it a lot, you need to buy it. Because then you may not find it, here you need to focus on the call of the soul.

7/10 Which countries should you visit for Black Friday sales?

The name, of course, of this day is gloomy, but for a large number people Black Friday is a real holiday! Every year from November 23 to 29, stores announce discounts on their range of up to 60%, and on Black Friday they reach 90%.

The very phenomenon of Black Friday appeared in the USA, and it is in this country that the best sales in the world traditionally take place. Large-scale promotions are held in all major cities in the United States, but I recommend choosing New York - here is a paradise for shopping. Now you can buy air tickets at a bargain price - for a flight from Moscow and back.

The most interesting and popular stores are located in Manhattan: Tiffany, Saks, Macy`s, Bloomingdale`s. Here, on the famous 5th Avenue, Prada, Fendi, Gucci boutiques are located. I strongly advise you to visit Rockefeller Center, where there is a huge number of stores of different brands and classes. In order not to walk far, you can stop. Moreover, by settling near large department stores, you can get in line early and avoid the crush.

I also advise you to familiarize yourself with its assortment before visiting the store and find out where everything is located. Otherwise, on Black Friday, there is a chance that you simply won’t find the product you like.

Cool shopping is also waiting for you in Germany. Moreover, a trip to Europe is cheaper than to America. Accordingly, you can spend more on purchases! Flight Moscow - Berlin - Moscow will cost you

The largest shopping center in Berlin Neuköllner Arcaden is located in the Neukölln district. On an area of ​​27 thousand square meters you will find more than 60 clothing and footwear stores. But there's room for even more - Spandau Arcaden, a department store with 125 stores, including appliances, books and branded boutiques.

8/10 How, while living in Russia, is it profitable to buy goods in American online stores?

Your best bet, of course, is to find a store with free international shipping. There are still such, but this is an endangered species, and, most likely, you will not find the product you need there. Moreover, the vast majority of stores do not deliver outside the United States at all - they have enough of the American market, which is the first in the world in terms of sales by a wide margin. Meanwhile, the prices there for many goods are much cheaper than here. And with discounts it is even more profitable - unlike domestic retail, in the USA it is not customary to dodge on sales.

So, you have found a store where the goods you need are sold much cheaper than here. First of all, go to the Shipping section of the site, and look for rates for International Shipping ( international delivery). If it is, look for Russia in the list of available countries, and carefully review the list of available mail services. The cheapest shipping is usually by regular American mail - USPS. Courier services like DHL and FedEX charge a lot more, and the heavier the package, the higher the markup.

If there is no overseas shipment, or only expensive shipping courier service, it makes sense to turn to an intermediary, the so-called mail forwarder. There are many of them (shipito, shopfans, shopogol, etc.).

They work according to the following principle: register, you are given a postal address in the United States, which you indicate in the online store when purchasing. The store delivers the goods to the specified address, the employees of the mail forwarder company open the package (they can photograph its contents for you, on a separate request), and complete different parcels different people large shipments, but so as not to exceed the duty-free import limit. Some mail forwarders use regular postal services, while others are self-delivered. In the latter case, sending is much cheaper, but there will most likely be no insurance or tracking of the parcel's route.

Keep in mind that cheaper than USPS, most likely, will not work - mail forwarders formally keep shipping prices lower, but they add payment for processing the incoming parcel from the store and repackaging. But they periodically hold promotions when you can ship the order very cheaply.

Local communities in many places were destroyed, and mass society became a grave for them, as one of the Indian elders put it. They have been replaced by the consumer society, a fake realm of freedom that offers an illusory choice between brands A, B, and C. The local community and freedom have disappeared, and shopping is trying in vain to fill the resulting void.

Black Friday, which comes after Thanksgiving in the United States, has become the holy day of shopping in the year. The explosive interest of buyers for Black Friday is fixed in the early 60s. Since 2011 large stores decided to work at night, opening their doors at midnight. Since 2007, seven people have been killed and 98 injured in US clashes over lucrative goods.

On this day, the prices of many goods are significantly reduced. Consumers want to make up for their declining purchasing power at a time when income inequality between those at the top of the pyramid and those at the bottom is soaring. The strong protest vote for Trump among the poor once again reminds us of this.

Even China has its own Black Friday, which is called Singles' Day, the modern day of Anti-Valentine's Day. Mass consumption, mass production, mass culture, mass society - these phenomena have replaced local communities, differences and traditions, and have become part of our homogenized world, like a global environmental catastrophe.

But there are still those who resist this process and even protest against Black Friday. For example, in my Eugene, Oregon, the owner of a small bicycle shop displays this sign in the window: “For the third year in a row we will be closed on Bike Friday.”

Black Friday is a monument to the wrong direction our society is heading in. But this is only part of the sad reality. In the absence of true unity of people, we see how the era of mass executions has begun in the United States, which are committed by individuals isolated from each other, glued to screens, forced to buy the latest devices. The loss of trust in public institutions is compensated by making purchases. This is an unhealthy vicious circle that needs to be broken.

In the United States, Black Friday is the shopping day immediately after Thanksgiving. The day originally got its name because so many people went shopping that it caused traffic accidents and sometimes even violent outbursts.

For the first time the name "Black Friday" sounded on behalf of Earl Apfelbaum, a dealer of rare stamps. In his announcement, he wrote that "The Philadelphia Police Department's nickname for Black Friday is the Friday following Thanksgiving. And it's by no means an endearing name. Black Friday officially opens downtown Christmas shopping season, which usually results in severe traffic jams." on the roads, crowds of people on the streets that besiege shopping centers from morning to evening."

The police department coined the phrase to describe the mayhem and mutilation from crowds of pedestrians and vehicular traffic in the downtown area.

When did Black Friday become positive?

Retailers did not like the negative association with the black day of the week. And for good reason. For example, Black Monday is October 19, 1987, when the Dow Jones Industrial Average fell by 22%. It was the highest fall in its history.

This was followed by Black Tuesday the following week, when the stock market lost 11% despite attempts by mainstream investors to support share prices. This event destroyed all investor confidence in the stock market, which in those days was considered the basis of the economy. Many have invested all their savings and remain poor.

No wonder retailers wanted to give a more positive meaning to the term "Black Friday". And for them, the Friday after Thanksgiving is a very profitable day. So they used the name to reflect their success. Accountants use black to express profit in daily entries. Red means losses. Therefore, Black Friday has since meant a profitable Friday for retailers and the country's economy as a whole.

Worst Black Friday ever

However, Black Friday bargain hunters still make life difficult for the police. In 2013, a Chicago Kohl employee was shot dead by police as he ran to his car. He was dragging an officer who was halfway to his car.

The most violent events took place at Wal-Mart in 2012, when two people were gunned down in Talahassee, Florida fighting over a free parking space.

And the electronics department at Wal-Mart seems to be the most dangerous place ever.

In 2011, a woman doused people with pepper spray at a Wal-Mart in Los Angeles. She was trying to get the Wii at 60% off. A year earlier, at Wal-Mart in Sacramento, crowds began pounding on closed doors trying to get discount electronics at 5:30 in the morning.

On Black Friday 2009, another California Wal-Mart, this time in Rancho Cucamonga, requested police assistance in dealing with an out-of-control crowd - and again, the event took place in the early hours of the morning outside the electronics department. The store was quickly closed shortly after neighboring Upland was also closed.

In 2008, a man was trampled to death despite being tall and heavy (195.5 cm and 122.5 kg). He died of asphyxia when mobs broke into another Wal-Mart (this time in New York). At least 2,000 people broke the doors, and the man was driven into the lobby, where he suffocated. 11 other buyers were injured, including a pregnant woman.

So, the police have every right to call such a day "Black Friday".

Photo: Hendrik Osula

"Black Friday" is the time of wild queues in stores and obsession with discounts. This is not always the time of joy from profitable purchases, because in order to open the buyer's pocket, many tricks have long been invented. Although Black Friday became the apogee of the consumer fever, from time immemorial, some people have learned to find discounts, while others have learned to cheat. "Gazeta.Ru" tells how the sales were born, and why the psychology of discounts is so effective.

On November 23, a large-scale sale "Black Friday" starts, from which the season of Christmas discounts begins - the "hottest" time for merchants. This phenomenon appeared more than 50 years ago in. There, the discount holiday begins the day after Thanksgiving and takes place throughout the country.

There are different versions of why this November Friday was called “black”. One of the most compelling is that black ink marked profits on the ledgers and red ink losses.

The first sales appeared much earlier. They acquired a large-scale scope in the USA and Europe at the end of the 19th century. It is believed that this happened thanks to Frank Woolworth, an assistant salesman in a small American store. Then there were no price tags, sellers had to evaluate the buyer and, relying on intuition, offer a price. Due to shyness and fear of communication, the guy’s trade did not work out. Desperate, Frank displayed the goods, each signing its price. Taking out the stale goods, he put it on the counter with the inscription: "Everything for 5 cents."

The first sale was, of course, a resounding success. People simply swept away the goods, and the proceeds could not but rejoice. Such an inventive mind could only go further. Indeed, Woolworth soon opened a whole network of stores in which most of the goods were sold at a price of 5 cents - Five cent market.

There is another version of the appearance of sales, associated with the merchants in the 19th century and a well-known phraseological unit. A raisin merchant once offered a merchant to buy the last raisins cheaply. Without knowing it, he gave the merchant good idea- sell leftovers at the cheapest price. The merchant quickly got rich, and the rest began to follow him.

Regardless of the country, you can trace the sales seasons with discounts. Seasonal Sale starts a month before the end of the season and lasts 3-4 weeks. Discounts during this period can increase from 15-20% to 50-70%. Pre-holiday sales are characterized by the fact that they usually take place 10-15 days before the holiday. Then the price returns to the original level.

swindle the consumer

Of course, in times of rush demand, it has become easier for some unscrupulous sellers to use some tricks to outwit the buyer. It happened that stores sold goods at a sale for more than before the discount was announced.

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“The maximum discount a store can afford is 30%. If there are more discounts, then the matter is unclean. It happens that mythical prices are written on the price tags and a discount is calculated based on them, or a couple of weeks before the start of the sale they quietly raise prices, and then they start the sale with pomp, ”writes Roman Kirsanov in the book“ Everything about personal finance: ways to save on all occasions." In fact, a 70 percent discount is only possible on defective, unsold, stale or discounted goods, he says.

In addition, in the department with a sale there may be things without discounts. When your eyes run wide from the number of goods and people, you can get confused.

Often during the sale there is a task to sell stale goods, not always good quality or in good condition. On Black Friday, they are especially active in buying household appliances, checking them in a hurry, and these can also be appliances Bad quality or after renovation.

Another trouble is the usual ignorance of their rights or the conditions of the action. “In the turmoil, many buyers become victims of deception by unscrupulous sellers who do not fully communicate the terms of the promotions to the buyer,” warns. The seller is obliged to tell in an accessible form about the goods and the conditions for their sale.

“It is also important for the buyer to know that any product purchased on the promotion is subject to return and exchange, in the same manner as normally sold similar products. In particular, if non-food product of proper quality did not fit the consumer in shape, size, style, color, size or configuration, then in accordance with the law “On the Protection of Consumer Rights”, the consumer has the right to exchange within 14 days, not counting the day of purchase, ”reminds the department.

The fever has reached the internet

Black Friday has grown so much that the Monday after it has been called Cyber ​​Monday, and it's time for online sales. And in this environment, fraud is not new. “Cyber ​​Monday” has not yet arrived, and Group-IB experts have already discovered more than 400 clone sites that copy the popular online trading platform AliExpress, and another two hundred sites created for well-known brands and online stores, the company's press service said. Fraudsters thus try to sell counterfeit goods, as well as steal money from bank cards users paying for purchases online.

The damage for one buyer can reach tens of thousands of rubles. Up to 200,000 people can visit one such pseudo-site every month. Let's hope that this year the vigilance of buyers will win over the cunning of merchants and the sophistication of scammers.

During the grand sale called Black Friday, the coolest sales are traditionally held. In the United States and other countries, this year's Shopaholic Day falls on November 23rd. Such sizes of discounts and at the same time in almost all stores do not happen more than a year.

Black Friday or "Black Friday" has become a popular world-class event thanks to American marketers who increased discounts after Thanksgiving, marking the beginning of the Christmas sales season, and carried out active marketing work.

At first, the concept of "Black Friday" was associated with the collapse of the gold market in 1869, as well as with the crises on the Wall Street stock exchanges. In addition, Friday, which fell on the 13th, was also called "Black".

This is a phrase known to many and the Americans decided to use it to refer to the hectic day of big discounts after Thanksgiving, which most often fell on Friday. Christmas sales started in stores, and shoppers hunted for maximum profit.

Ancestor of the first sales

The founder of the first sales, many years before the advent of Black Friday, is Frank Woolworth (1852-1919), who was the first to come up with sales at the end of the 19th century.

In Lancaster, Pennsylvania, an introverted guy from the outback worked as a sales assistant in a small shop, where he experienced constant discomfort due to uncertain prices. At that time, there were no price tags in stores, and sellers had to resort to all sorts of tricks to find out the solvency of customers, after which they set the price of the goods. Once, taking advantage of the absence of the main seller, Woolworth decided to take a risky step. He put up a 5-cent-item sign next to the seasonal item, setting up the first sale.

The operation was a commercial success, in the wake of which Frank Woolworth organized the largest retail network beginning of the twentieth century. His stores can be considered the progenitors of the current discounters and supermarkets.
Sellers quickly realized that by appointing constant prices on goods and "sales", they can make a big profit during the Christmas period, when everyone is bought with gifts. Where did the tradition of organizing the most grandiose sales right after Thanksgiving come from.

In 1951, Factory Management and Maintenance noticed an interesting trend that after Thanksgiving, many employees went on sick leave, although in fact they simply arranged a 4-day vacation in this way, which they spent in stores in search of discounts.
At the same time, the phrase "Black Friday" became common among Philadelphia police officers, who were shocked by the terrible traffic jams that occur annually on the Friday after Thanksgiving.
According to another available version, this day is called Black Friday, since in American accounting, losses are displayed in red, and profits in black. And Friday after Thanksgiving is considered the most profitable time of the year for sellers.

Since 1966, the expression "Black Friday" has finally taken hold on the East Coast of the United States among sellers and meant the period of the biggest discounts on goods.

Black Friday Traditions

Perhaps the most interesting tradition of Black Friday is that it is bad form to return goods to the seller (for any reason) bought on that day. Prices should be reduced as much as possible, the goods should be available in sufficient quantity, and before the start of the sale on the eve of Black Friday, it is forbidden to increase prices for the assortment.

According to statistics, the average American family can save from a couple of hundred to several thousand dollars on Black Friday. Every year, shoppers spend about $60 billion during this period. The most popular products include toys, clothing, and electronics.

Note that in our country Black Friday has been organized since 2013. For example, about 5 million people participated in the domestic Black Friday four years ago, and its bestsellers were electronic equipment, which 50% of buyers preferred, and clothes with accessories - 28% of purchases.