The Curious History and Dark Psychology of Black Friday

 

Did you know that 80% of shoppers make impulse purchases during Black Friday? Yikes. But why is that?

But first.

What is Black Friday?

The famous Black Friday is the Friday celebrated after Thanksgiving in the US (for some reason, in Canada, Thanksgiving is another date).

During this day, most stores give out crazy sales with outstandingly low prices, and many people get into the frenzy of buying stuff.

But where does this curious holiday come from?

Black Friday at the Apple Store on Fith Avenue, NYC (2011). Public domain.

The origins of “Black Friday.”

According to sources, the first time the term “Black Friday” was recorded was after the financial crisis in the crash of the US gold market on September 24, 1869.[1]

Basically, two dudes from Wall Street (Jay Gould and Jim Fisk) conspired to buy as much of the nation’s gold to drive the price up so that they could later sell it at a profit.

However, that Friday in September, their gig exploded on their faces as they were found out, and this sent “…the stock market into free-fall and bankrupting everyone from Wall Street barons to farmers.” [1]

Another popular hypothesis is that the term “Black Friday” came about to describe how much money stores make on that day.

Since people are buying so much stuff, retailers can go from red to black numbers (an accounting reference to tell when a company is profitable vs when it has losses).

Photograph of the President and Mrs. Truman in the stands at the Army-Navy football game in Philadelphia. boudewijnhuijgens.getarchive.net

However, the REAL story (apparently) has to do more with a term used by local police in Philadelphia in the 1950s after a particularly rowdy crowd flooded the city a Friday after Thanksgiving to watch the Army-Navy football game held on that Saturday every year.

It was a shopping bonanza — for shoppers and shoplifters alike. Everyone went crazy buying (or shoplifting) stuff, and the poor Philadelphia cops couldn’t enjoy their day off.

From there, the term expanded to other parts of the United States and eventually other parts of the world.

Some well-intentioned marketers tried to rebrand this day to “Big Friday” to make it sound less murdery. But, it seems Big Friday is not as catchy, so Black Friday eventually stayed the preferred term until this day. [2]

Why do we engage in impulse buying?

It is no secret that most companies use Black Friday to get their customers to buy as much as possible. And now, with online shopping dominating, professional fields, such as UX design, play a massive role in driving sales.

But before we dive into the specific strategies retailers use to “encourage” us to buy, let’s take a quick look at some of the reasons behind impulse buying:

It Feels Good

A simple explanation for impulse buying is that it feels good. Shopping can be a pleasurable experience that can give us a quick pick-me-up. “Getting something new or getting a treat is a pick-me-up on a bad day, adds spice to a boring one, and can work as a strong incentive for a lazy day.” [3]

Emotional Coping

Emotions can be uncomfortable, and apparently, national events make us more emotional [4] (Remember the disappearance of toilet paper during a certain pandemic?). Impulse buying can be used to cope with uncomfortable feelings and situations. They don’t call it retail therapy for nothing.

We Want a Deal

Many of us feel the need to take advantage of a discount when we see it. Otherwise, we would be silly to miss the opportunity to save, right? “Even if you wouldn’t have looked twice at the store before, the perception that you’re getting a good deal will make you feel justified in making the unnecessary purchase.” [5]

Other Reasons

Other reasons include FOMO or what psychologists more appropriately refer to as “Loss Aversion.” [6], personality traits, buying beliefs and attitudes, sociocultural values and demographic factors. [7]

Retailers know this, oh do they know, and they use it to induce you to make purchases. Let’s look at some of the UX strategies that stores use to make you buy more during Black Friday (and potentially other days).

8 UX Strategies Retailers Use to Get You To Buy More During Black Friday

UX, or User Experience, is the process of understanding customers’ psychology and behaviour via research to tailor a product (often digital) to a target audience to meet their needs as best as possible while encouraging users to meet the business goals (e.g. clicking on the “Buy Now!” button).

As a Product Designer myself, I understand that the best UX is often seamless, and it feels so natural that you, as a consumer, won’t even notice being influenced.

So, without further ado, here are seven strategies used by retailers to get you to buy more during Black Friday:

Scarcity & Urgency Cues

Countdown timers and Low stock alerts such as: “Only three left in stock!’ Tap into our fear of missing out. Limited-time offers create a sense of urgency that pushes shoppers to act fast.

Remember the limited-edition Kylie’s lip kit that sold out in the first millisecond (or something) the first time they came out? If you know, you know.

Visual Hierarchy & Attention Traps

Think of them as the thirst traps of the retail world. Flashy banners, bold colours, and eye-catching CTAs (Call-to-Actions), all set up at eye level for you to be seduced.

Displaying impulse products around high-product-demand items

Say you want to buy a hair dryer, but lo-and-behold, besides it, you also find they have a hairbrush that compliments the dryer, and they have hair rollers too? Lucky day, your hair is going to look fabulous.

By creating “packages,” retailers seek to upsell items that otherwise you might not have thought of buying before.

Anchoring Pricing

“Price anchoring is the practice of establishing a reference price to influence consumers’ perception of a product’s value and guide their purchasing decisions.” [8]

For example, say you go online and see a laptop case at $99 (that’s expensive!), but then you see that was the original price; now, the price is at an all-time low of $49. Now that’s a deal!

Personalization

If you shopped online, you have probably seen a message along the lines of “Shoppers who bought this also bought…” followed by a personalized set of items for potential consumption.

Here, the goal is to offer customers a tailored experience by showing items you might actually want to buy.

Gamification

Gamification is all the rage in UX — aside from AI, of course. Basically, the idea is to make the shopping experience similar to a game where, by playing, you can unlock deals and other rewards.

Think of stores offering point rewards or that annoying pop-up with a wheel that you can spin to unlock some coveted deals.

Simplified Checkout Process

In UX, “friction” is an important concept. The more friction a user experiences while trying to do something, the less likely the user is to do it.

Because of this, retailers spend hours and hours (and potentially a lot of money) trying to create a seamless checkout experience so that you have zero inconvenience when the time comes for you to empty your pockets.

Aspirational Marketing

This is all about making you feel good. Companies want you to visualize how buying their product will make you feel, look, and be seen, and they want this vision to be really good.

“In general, people are more likely to make an impulse purchase when they associate positive emotions like happiness, excitement, or pleasure with your products.

If they can visualize how a product will make them feel, they’re more likely to want it.” [9]

Dark Patterns

Although I’m not a fan of consumerism, I think most of these strategies can be applied ethically, especially when catering to your customer’s needs and desires.

However, there are patterns in UX called “Dark Patterns” that are designed to trick customers purposely.

Examples of Dark Patterns in UX can include hiding relevant information from customers, such as hidden costs and data transparency, deliberately making things more difficult than they need to be, such as when you want to opt-out from a subscription, or making the interface or messaging confusing so that users don’t really know what they agree to. [10]

Tips for Consumers

All in all, Black Friday can be an incredible opportunity to grab some amazing deals.

To make the best out of this holiday, you might consider:

  • Keeping a budget (so that you don’t get any surprises when your credit card statement arrives).
  • Doing your research beforehand instead of going blindsided. This will help in preventing too much impulse buying.

Conclusion

With the proper knowledge and a game plan, Black Friday can be an excellent opportunity to take advantage of great deals. But remember, the smartest shopper is the one who knows the game!

Take care and happy, responsible shopping!

Sources

[1] https://www.history.com/news/black-friday-thanksgiving-origins-history

[2] https://www.britannica.com/story/why-is-it-called-black-friday

[3] https://brainfodder.org/science-of-impulse-purchases/

[4] https://www.capitalone.com/learn-grow/money-management/impulse-buying/

[5] https://www.achca.org/index.php?option=com_dailyplanetblog&view=entry&year=2022&month=07&day=25&id=112:the-psychology-of-impulse-buying

[6] https://www.psychologytoday.com/intl/blog/consumer-behavior/201303/five-reasons-we-impulse-buy

[7] https://www.uxdesigninstitute.com/blog/what-does-a-product-designer-do-guide/

[8] https://www.shopify.com/enterprise/blog/44331971-6-scientific-principles-of-persuasion-all-smart-ecommerce-founders-know

[9] https://www.convertcart.com/blog/how-to-drive-impulse-buying-ecommerce-store

[10] https://www.wix.com/studio/blog/ux-dark-patterns

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