In the leadup to Christmas, Black Friday is a major event.

Reflecting on Black Friday is a useful way to realise how this day has become so key to many of us in recent years. Black Friday has been a long-held celebration in America since 1869, as it is the last Friday before Thanksgiving, but Amazon only introduced this concept worldwide in 2010. The progression of Black Friday from the US across the sea to England and other countries expresses the retail opportunities and the necessity for high street shops to pick up on this in order to draw shoppers in.

The excitement for Black Friday was rising at my school leading up to Thanksgiving. I asked Sofia Hassain in year 11 what her view on Black Friday and she stated, ‘I like Black Friday because I can buy lots of Christmas presents without spending very much,’ adding, ‘it’s my favourite day!’ This depicts the excitement in low prices caused by Black Friday, which retailers use as incentive to entice customers to their shops, especially on the high street.

With an increased reliance on technology, most shopping is done online, which has caused a major problem for high street shops and independent stores. A 2018 study, picked up on by The Telegraph, illustrates how one in five pounds spent is online. Even with the low prices and excessive retail encouragement having impacts at the moment, it is very likely that online shopping will continue to rise dramatically and Black Friday may instead just shift to online websites, or perhaps disappear altogether.