November 23, 2017

Shop Black Friday, Small Biz Saturday & Cyber Monday!

Ready. Set. Shop

Now that our stomachs are full, the football games have been watched and the tryptophan is slowly wearing off, it’s time to SHOP! Almost as traditional as apple and pumpkin pie, the jump start on holiday shopping kicks off tomorrow. Here are some fun facts about #BlackFriday , #SmallBizSaturday and #CyberMonday

#BlackFriday

• As the  informal name for the day following Thanksgiving Day in the United States, Black Friday has been regarded as the start of the Holiday shopping season since 1952!
• This shopping day is focused towards “big-box” retail. Electronics and children’s toys see the highest uptick in sales.
• Earliest evidence of the phrase being applied in shopping context suggests that the term originated in Philadelphia.
  • This day represents the point in the year the retailers begin to turn a profit, this going from being “in the red” to being “in the black”.
• Use of the term spread slowly, first appearing in The New York Times on November 29th, 1975.
• For years it was common for retailers to open at 6:00am but in the late 2000s, many had crept to 4:00am or 5:00am.
• In 2011 this was taken to the extreme when several retailers (Target, Macy’s and Best Buy) opened at midnight for the first time.

#SmallBizSaturday

• A registered trademark of American Express Corp, Small Business Saturday™ got its start in 2010!
• This shopping day is focused toward “brick and mortar” or “small and local” retail. Mom & Pop shops show off a more relax shopping experience than Black Friday.
• The first event was sponsored by American Express and two Boston alum!
  • Former Boston Mayor Thomas Menino and Roslindale Village Main Street helped sponsor the first event!
• Within its first year, American Express’s Small Business Saturday Facebook page generated more than one million likes on Facebook.
• Using the hashtags #SmallBusinessSaturday and #SmallBizSaturday on Twitter generated more than 30,000 tweets!
• With its growing popularity in the US, Small Business Saturday UK began in 2013.

#CyberMonday

• What has become the most popular form of shopping (we can tell by the state of the package room), Cyber Monday got its start in 2005!
• These online-only deals help kick off “e-commerce” shopping with just the click of a button.
• Sales on Cyber Monday are largest for fashion retailers.
  • The past two Cyber Mondays have seen an average of 45% more clothing and 50% more shoe deals than on Black Friday.
• In 2015, Cyber Monday sales grew to a record $2.98 BILLION with 77% of online retailers saying their sales increased substantially!
• The New York Times reported: “The name Cyber Monday grew out of the observation that millions of otherwise productive working Americans, fresh off a Thanksgiving weekend of window shopping, were returning to high-speed Internet connections at work Monday and buying what they liked.”^[
• As of 2011, 22% of employers have fired an employee for using the Internet for non-work related activities.

So how will you shop for the holidays? Have you decided to participate in #GivingTuesday instead? Check out our previous blog to learn more about local charities you can give to during the holiday season.

…also, keep your eyes peeled for details on our own Holiday Market!!!