How Has Holiday Shopping Changed?

By Nora Kenyon Last updated Dec 5, 2024

Black Friday pandemonium in Walmart, which was more common in past decades. PHOTO CREDIT: LAURIE OFINDY, FLICKR

More Than Just Black Friday

Picture this: It’s 2013, the Friday after Thanksgiving. You log into your family’s Dell desktop, open YouTube, and adjust your chevron-patterned infinity scarf. Yellow Forever 21 and blue plaid Bath and Body Works bags cover the screen. You click on the title “Black Friday Haul and Vlog” and watch the rewarding chaos begin.

If you log into YouTube today, you’ll still find some recent videos detailing what people bought, but the thrill of the “holiday” is no longer what it used to be. Personally, I miss the 2010s’ YouTube, but that is a whole different article that need to be written.

According to the National Retail Federation, Black Friday is still the most popular day for shopping in-store, with a total of 76.2 million people in stores in 2023. While it is clear that many people are still waking up at the crack of dawn to get the in-person adrenaline rush of tearing boxes from shelves, cutting in line and money on holiday gifts, it isn’t the only way to get great deals during the holiday season anymore.

Over the past decade, the one day of deals known as Black Friday has slowly been expanding. First, it started with the addition of Cyber Monday. According to Brittanica, the NRF coined the phrase in 2005. If someone had asked when Cyber Monday started, I would have said much more recently. Regardless, the start of Cyber Monday came handy to all those who were not interested in being trampled in a Target parking lot.

Ten years later, Small Business Saturday was founded in 2010 by American Express, according to the U.S. Small Business Administration. This event has more of a purpose than just saving for the holidays. Small Business Saturday encourages people to shop small and locally and be conscious of the impact that their consumerism has on the environment.

While I thought these three days were where it stopped, I was proven wrong. Through my research, I found a savings event that I haven’t heard of before. According to CBS News, Travel Tuesday was started in 2017 by Hopper, a travel booking app. Travel Tuesday is all about getting bargains on your next flight. Who knew?

So, just four days of sales and special deals to ring in the holiday season, right? Wrong.

Upon further investigation, I found that many stores are expanding their deals. Each savings event is no longer constrained to just one day. I went to a small business on the Friday after Thanksgiving and their sale had already started. Even Amazon, the online shopping platform, has turned Cyber Monday into a three-day event. Even more surprisingly, they have Black Friday deals from November 21 through 29, creating a total of 12 days of sales events.

Unfortunately, or fortunately, depending on which way you view it, this extension of holiday saving deals is now the new norm. While it seems to just promote an abundance of overconsumption, I’m sure there are many people who are thrilled with the deals. Personally, I will be rewatching the 2013 Black Friday haul videos instead of making any big purchases.