Why is the day after Thanksgiving called Black Friday?

Answer 1

In bookkeeping, red ink means the company owes more money than they have made. When you have made more money then you owe, the records are in black ink. Many businesses don't go from using red ink to using black ink during the year until the day after Thanksgiving. That is why it is called Black Friday.

Black Friday usually refers to the day after Thanksgiving, the official start of the holiday shopping season. Stores offer deep discounts and sell a few products at a loss in order to entice shoppers to spend.

"Black" derives from old accounting slang, "in the black," first used in 1926 (the term was first applied to holiday shopping in the late 60s or early 70s). When a business is operating at a loss, it is said to be "in the red," referring to the way negative numbers were recorded in accounting ledgers using red ink; when a business is making a profit, it is said to be "in the black," and the ledger shows positive numbers recorded in black ink. Black Friday is often the day retailers finally begin making a profit for the year, shifting their status from being "in the red" to being "in the black." In the retail industry, most of the profit is made during the five-week period between Black Friday and the end of the year.

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Black Friday is the traditional kickoff of the Christmas shopping season. The sales are so high that it is the one day of the year that retailers are assured of being "in the black" - a term for earning a profit.

Most stores and shops operate in the negative and are losing money for the entire year. Then the first day of the Christmas shopping season, their sales jump up enough so they make money or, as they say in accounting, they are "in the black."

Many stores offer deep discounts on Black Friday and open their doors early. Some have started to offer Black Friday deals for multiple days. In the online shopping business, Cyber Monday is the equivalent to Black Friday.

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It refers to a financial term. Most stores and shops operate in the negative and are losing money for the entire year. Then the first day of the Christmas shopping season, their sales jump up enough so they make money or, as they say in accounting, they are "in the black".

Answer 2

It is the day retailers hope to make enough sales to put themselves in the black(profit) for the calendar year. Bowing to ethnic pressure, it will hereafter be known as African American Friday.