Black Friday: What Does it All Mean, Anyway?

Navigating Black Friday: What all of Those Black Friday Buzzwords Mean, and What to Look Out For as a Lash Tech and Business Owner

Each November, Black Friday rolls around with companies of every size all around the world opting for longer sales and higher discounts every year. As a concept, Black Friday isn't exactly new, but it's not really got a super long history either. Since its conception as a sale back in the 1950s, new days have been added such as Cyber Monday, Fake Friday, and Small Business Saturday to name a few. 

Let's take a look at what each of these days mean, where they came from, and what they man for you as a Lash Tech who wants to boost their business without breaking the bank!

Black Friday: A History

While the first documented use of the term Black Friday is from the US gold market crash of September 1869, the term wasn't used to describe the day-after-thanksgiving sales we've come to know it as until the 1950s.

While we might get pretty excited for it now, it actually stemmed from the chaos that ensued from tourists visiting Philly to watch the Army vs Navy football game that was held on that day.

Black Friday wasn't actually seen as a positive until the 80s, at which point it was becoming more and more apparent how much of a boost that one day could give to the economy.

The Origins of Cyber Monday

In 2005, owing to a rise in online retailers, Cyber Monday was tacked onto the end of the Black Friday weekend. You may have seen the 4 day weekend collectively referred to as BFCM – this simply stands for Black Friday / Cyber Monday. 

While some stores once opted to have additional or different offers on for Black Friday and Cyber Monday respectively, it's become far more common for brick and mortar stores (ie. physical stores that you can visit and take your items from the shelves) and eCommerce stores (ie. online only stores like London Lash) to simply have a sale on for the entirety of Black Friday Weekend. 

Okay, So What's Fake Friday?

This is a pretty new one. With Black Friday deals becoming popular in much of the western world and not just in the USA, it's becoming increasingly popular for some businesses to begin their Black Friday sale a week early, which came to be known as Fake Friday. 

So Should You Wait Until Actual Black Friday?

'Early bird' style deals may be slightly lower than the deals offered over Black Friday weekend, though shopping early means that things are less likely to have sold out by the time Black Friday or even Cyber Monday roll around.

You also can't guarantee that deals will be higher over Black Friday weekend – it's quite normal for stores to have the same discounts running from beginning to end. What's more likely is that they will introduce an additional discount code to be used on top of existing sales, or that they will include additional items in their sales discounts.

It can be worth waiting, but it can also mean that what you had your heart set on is all gone by the time BFCM weekend rolls around. 

You Mentioned Small Business Saturday...?

Yep! Back in 2010, credit card provider American Express introduced Small Business Saturday as a way to celebrate small businesses. It's no secret that starting a business can be pretty costly, so by highlighting Small Businesses at such a crucial time, it meant that small business owners stood a chance against industry giants in a way that they would have had to fight tooth and nail for in the past. 

WRITER'S NOTE: Every lash extension brand that you know today started out as a small business, and of course, some still are. While London Lash now has more than 50 employees dotted about the world, when I started at the company in 2017, there were 3 of us in the office doing everything. It's only really been in the last 2 or 3 years that we've really started to grow our teams and streamline job roles – thanks entirely to all of you, of course – so each of us really understand what it's like for you as a Lash Tech to juggle a thousand different responsibilities when it comes to starting and nurturing a business.

Small Business Saturday means that small business owners are championed, with their products and services put on a pedestal. Additionally, we like to provide tips and tricks for maximising the impact of Black Friday Deals, and to help you take your business to the next level.

It's our aim with any sales or special offers to make your job easier and your business more profitable. Black Friday and Cyber Monday are no exception to that, and it's the main reason that we have such high discounts on your lash extension kit essentials. With that being said, such high discounts can call into question the quality of the goods you'll be receiving. Worry not: as we've said, our high discounts are put in place to favor you and your business – you can read more about it in this blog post!