It's been Black Friday for a while, whether it's actually Friday or not

Truth be told, for most retailers, it’s been Black Friday for at least this whole week. For some, it’s been even longer than that.

Black Friday is traditionally the day when many people begin their holiday shopping, thanks to the encouragement of sales and deals on a multitude of different items. But truth be told, It’s been Black Friday for a while now.

For most retailers, it’s been Black Friday for at least this whole week. For some, it’s been even longer than that. Before you know it, it will be Cyber Monday for the next few days as well.

“The holiday shopping season is the most important shopping season,” said Jie Zhang, a marketing professor at the University of Maryland. “It’s also a time when retailers all know they face fierce competition with each other, so they’re all trying to outdo each other by moving sales earlier and earlier.”

That’s why the sales have been going on for so long and why she said you should have started your Black Friday shopping well before Friday.

“Black Friday will now feel like a crescendo instead of the official start of the holiday season. You might miss out on some hot items that might sell out before Black Friday,” she said.

Luckily, Cyber Monday is only a few days away, and it’s also longer than a day now.

“I don’t see a real difference between Black Friday sales and Cyber Monday sales,” Zhang told WTOP. “In fact, it all becomes one big block. »

Although in-store purchases remain by far the largest sales driver for retailers, online growth continues to outpace in-store growth, which also explains why sales are starting earlier.

“Because of the expected boom in online shopping, they have to deal with this drastic increase in the volume of shipping that they have to handle,” Zhang said. “So that’s another reason why they’re offering deals earlier and trying to spread them out over a wider period of time to reduce the shipping burden.”

This will likely never change, as online shopping makes it easier to ship gifts directly to the recipient. But the deals available now won’t last forever, as the ads say.

Whenever the Cyber Monday sales end, whether it’s on Monday or later in the week, there’s a good chance you’ll wait until after Christmas before seeing anything similar again.

“As December approaches, typically two weeks before Christmas, retailers could end their discounts and sales,” she said, “and capitalize on the fact that procrastinators still have to their shopping and should therefore pay more.

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