Retailers Are Trying to Kill Black Friday

Everyone should go Black Friday shopping this year.

Because the infamous "holiday" may not survive much longer.

I've been an avid Black Friday shopper for years, waking up in the wee hours of the morning (or in the case of the past couple of years- not going to bed at all.)  My personal reasons for going Black Friday shopping are mostly out of novelty.  Black Friday is what you make it: If you drag your friends along with you at 2 in the morning, drink lots of coffee, and play Quelf while waiting in line, you're going to have a lot more fun than the person sitting outside of the store constantly complaining about how cold they are.

Black Friday is intense:

Haha, pun.  Some people are literally in tents.

                                               
But lately some people have been taking it too seriously.  Stories of fights breaking out, trampling innocent employees until the point of death, and shooting fellow shoppers have flooded the media in recent years.  Obviously, this behavior is completely unacceptable and stores are looking for ways to avoid this.

Of course, change in results only occurs from change in action, so retailers have decided to go about Black Friday differently this year.  Whether they are opening at midnight instead of 4 am, offering sale prices at 10PM Thursday night, not requiring shoppers to wait in line outside of the store, extending all sale prices online, or honoring price-matches until Christmas, retailers are drastically changing the dynamics of Black Friday - and this has received vast amounts of backlash.

Whether you agree or disagree with employees having to forgo portions of their Thanksgiving celebrations to come into work earlier - that's not what this blog post is about.  No, what this is about is:

RETAILERS ARE TRYING TO KILL BLACK FRIDAY.

There.

It is my belief that Black Friday will be non-existent in 3 years.  5 years tops.

Black Friday originally coined the name as it was the first day that retailers supposedly were able to turn a profit for the year, thereby their books were not "in the red", but "in the black".  In today's changing world of commerce, retailers have many other opportunities to make sales, and it is not contingent on a singular days' in-store success.

Black Friday, sadly, is now irrelevant.  Profitable, yes; no question.  Necessary?  Absolutely not.  
Granted, I don't have the economic or financial research to back me up here (possible senior seminar topic next year? Hmmmm)  But my theory remains.

I believe that retailers are sick of Black Friday and are trying to kill it.

So celebrate now, joyous shoppers!  For Black Friday is forever changing, and you never know when your last opportunity to experience the madness may be.