Retailers operate on exceptionally thin margins so that they make nothing or next to nothing outside of major consumer holidays. The day after Thanksgiving became a day when most were off work so they’d take advantage of the extra time to go get some Christmas shopping done. Retailers would go from “in the red” to “in the black” from a profit and loss perspective.
Retailers noticed and started offering sales to lure in these shoppers who were spenders.
Door buster sales as loss-leaders became a thing and soon everyone was in on the consumer holiday.
Later, PR efforts purposely invented the incorrect, more positive “etymology” (which is a very popular urban legend and false etymology that was even in Wiktionary from 2008 to 2015) that the name was given because this day is supposedly the first day of the year on which retailers typically posted profits (‘in the black’) rather than losses (‘in the red’).[1]
Retailers operate on exceptionally thin margins so that they make nothing or next to nothing outside of major consumer holidays. The day after Thanksgiving became a day when most were off work so they’d take advantage of the extra time to go get some Christmas shopping done. Retailers would go from “in the red” to “in the black” from a profit and loss perspective.
Retailers noticed and started offering sales to lure in these shoppers who were spenders.
Door buster sales as loss-leaders became a thing and soon everyone was in on the consumer holiday.
It’s a fun notion but incorrect - https://en.m.wiktionary.org/wiki/Black_Friday