Some Interesting Black Friday Facts

Top 10 Black Friday Web Sites:

Amazon
Best Buy
Apple
Dell
Twitter
Black Friday.FM
tgiBlackFriday.com
BlackFriday2009
gottadeal.com
BFads

(Source: MSNBC)

There are two popular theories as to why the day after Thanksgiving is called Black Friday. One theory says that it is because of the extremely heavy traffic on the roads on this day. The wheels of the vehicles left a lot of black markings on the road surface, leading to the term Black Friday.

The other theory is that it comes from an old-fashioned way of recording business accounts. Losses were recorded in red ink and profits in black ink. Many businesses, particularly small retail stores, only started making profits in the run up to Christmas. Many hoped that they would start showing a profit, which could be marked in black ink, on the day after Thanksgiving. This theory does not apply to many large corporations, but may be a fact of life for smaller businesses.

(Source: Black Friday)

Slightly more than a quarter (26%) of all U.S. households report that they plan to shop on the day after Thanksgiving as consumers look for the best-of-the-best in holiday sales. Moreover, more than a third (36%) of consumers aged between 18 and 34 years plan to be shopping on that day.

The two big waves will be from 4 AM to 8 AM—when 36.2 percent of those shoppers plan to arrive, followed by the 8 AM to 12 PM time slot when another 28 percent report they expect to arrive. However, nearly 18 percent are the real early-bird shoppers who plan their arrival between 12 AM and 4 AM on Friday morning.

15 percent of households completed half or more of their holiday gift buying—the highest percentage reporting that since 2004’s holiday season—for the week ahead of Thanksgiving.

The average mall takes about 5 days to decorate for the holidays

Malls will spend an average of 20,000 dollars this year on decorating for the holidays

The most popular holiday song played at malls is Jingle Bells

90% of malls will offer special holiday shopping hours

90% of malls say that their special holiday shopping hours will begin on Black Friday

This year, about 60% of malls will offer special amenities for holiday shoppers

80% of malls will organize an activity to raise money or merchandise for a charity

95% of malls will advertise for the holidays, the most common ways malls will advertise are: TV, Print, and Internet ads... other ways malls will advertise are: Direct Mail, Billboards, Social Media, Eblast, Mobile Messaging and Digital Boards

60% of malls say that the most popular denomination of gift cards sold in 2008 was $25

About 40% of malls say they will participate in a special holiday gift certificate incentive program this holiday season

72% of malls say that most gift cards are redeemed in January

Most malls employ only one Santa for the entire season

(Source: ICSC)