Here is an event which also marks the apogee of consumer culture in the society in which we live. We can certainly understand that when we have a need for equipment to fill this type of event can save us considerable amounts of money. If this allowed consumers to meet real needs while keeping the economy moving, it would make sense. However, this is not what actually happens.
But where does this event come from?
Originating in the United States on Black Friday (translated as Black Friday or Mad Friday in French) is now widely spread in North America and is increasingly expanding in Europe.
This concept was first used in the 1960s.
At the time, it was primarily referring to the increase in pedestrian and automobile traffic at the start of the Christmas shopping period. Traders have appropriated the term.
At that moment, the accounts were kept by hand. Red ink was used for deficit accounts while black ink was used for positive accounting accounts. For many merchants, the holiday season was the most prosperous time of the year, and sometimes this period alone allowed their survival.
For them, Black Friday meant 'coming out of the red' in their accounts to 'return to the black'.
And today ?
While originally, the day after the American Thanksgiving meal, Black Friday marked a period of intense consumption, several retailers are taking advantage of this moment to offer monster sales.
We still call it Black Friday, to mean the last Friday of November, but it seems that this event is stretching out more and more in time. It has become common for merchants to display their sales for a full week.
With the advent of the Internet, Cyber Monday was added to Black Friday for electronic commerce. Since most major chains or brands have both physical stores and online sales sites, this gives them an extra week where people shop intensively and look for discounted items.
To give you some figures demonstrating the scale of the phenomenon, in 2016, 67.6 billion dollars were spent during the Black Friday weekend. in the USA. Additionally, approximately 133.7 million U.S. consumers shopped during the same period. Note that according to the US Census Bureau the United States has a population of 326 million people. This means that nearly 1/3 of the American population rushes to stores on a single weekend and that represents 66% of adult consumers.
A chaos
Although here in Quebec this event happens in a relatively courteous manner between consumers, this is not always the case elsewhere. In the United States and now in Europe, consumers wait very early in the morning for the doors to open which will cause a flood of people literally rushing towards coveted objects.
This part is so incomprehensible to us! It's not like all these people are lacking something vital, right?
How to manage all this?
If necessary, whether for Black Friday, post-holiday discounts or any other discounts, the fact remains that the first thing to evaluate is related to your needs. Many people go to shopping centers to spot good opportunities. What effect does this have? Most of the time they buy things they don't need! And many of these goods unfortunately end up in the bottom of a wardrobe or even in the trash! Horror !
If you want to take advantage of it, plan your real needs, travel to strategic locations and make sure that what you want to buy is really worth the money and will not have a disproportionate impact on the environment. Let's add some color to this Black Friday!
Ecologically yours,
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