Is Black Friday the Same as It Used to Be?

Growing up, Black Friday was one of the most exhilarating events of the year. The adrenaline of shopping alongside so many people for things at such low prices was unmatched. There would always be adults fighting over flatscreen TV’s and over a hundred others lined up outside stores, like Best Buy and JCPenny, at 4 am. However, for the past few years, Black Friday has seemed to lose its spark.

One of the biggest reasons as to why Black Friday has not been the same for the past couple of years is inflation. Joe Zhang, a professor of marketing at the University of Maryland, stated, “‘We are in unique economic situations — inflation has been at a 40-year high and a lot of families’ budgets are being squeezed from all fronts’”. Due to the increased inflation, families are more reluctant to shop as much during Black Friday since they now have to spend most of their budget on necessities like gas and food.

Additionally, another reason  has been online shopping. Most people have been choosing to shop online to avoid the crowds at the mall, as well as being able to shop stress free. Although that seems smart, the point of Black Friday is to interact with strangers at stores and experience the tense yet exhilarating atmosphere. With less people physically shopping, stores were empty instead of closely packed, like they used to be. Without as many people spending time at the mall during Black Friday, it took away the excitement of even going shopping.

The last major reason is the sales. In the past, stores used to put almost everything at least 50% off and if not, the prices still used to be reasonable enough for people to actually want to shop. However, stores have now been more reluctant to give good sales. Most stores only gave sales on a few items that no one wanted or did “buy 3 get one free”. The sales were not good enough for people to camp outside stores or argue over products like they used to. Moreover, many stores, like Target, were even caught pretending to put tags for Black Friday claiming that they put the prices down, when they actually did not.

As a whole, despite the fact that Black Friday may still have some awesome deals and excitement surrounding it, it will never live up the way it used to be.