Shopping holidays are a time-honored American tradition. Now, however, shoppers can decide whether to line up outside a brick-and-mortar store on Black Friday or fill a virtual shopping cart on Cyber Monday—or do both. 

We’re here to explore the history behind seven of the biggest shopping days. Looking back, we may glean what makes shoppers tick and, for the aspiring marketers out there, how to connect with them. Mark your calendar, grab your coupons, and watch out for deal alerts: We’re going shopping.  

  1. Amazon Prime Day: Two Days in the Summer 
    Prime Day was first held on July 15, 2015, on Amazon’s 20th anniversary. Customers in nine Prime-eligible countries ordered over 34 million items, making it the biggest sales day in Amazon history—until, that is, the following year’s Prime Day.  

    Prime Day is now a two-day event hosted in over 20 countries, generating billions of dollars in sales annually. According to technology reporter Annie Palmer, “it has completely altered the retail calendar.” Other retailers have followed suit with events of their own, such as the Target Deal Days, but Prime Day remains the undisputed king of summer sales events.  
  1. Black Friday: The Day After Thanksgiving 
    Black Friday is the day many retailers generate enough revenue to turn a profit and operate “in the black,” but that’s not where the name originated. Starting in the 1960s, Philadelphia police used the term “Black Friday” to describe the traffic jams, crowded sidewalks, and pandemonium they witnessed on the day after Thanksgiving—the start of the Christmas shopping season. Retailers tried to promote the day as “Big Friday” with little success. Black Friday was here to stay.  
  1. Small Business Saturday: Last Saturday of November 
    American Express created Small Business Saturday in 2010 as a way to support independent businesses reeling from the Great Recession. Consumers were encouraged to shop for the holidays at locally owned businesses or smaller online retailers. The “Shop Small” initiative was a hit, and the following year, the U.S. Small Business Administration (SBA) cosponsored the event. In 2022, Americans went all out on Small Business Saturday, spending $17.9 billion at independent retailers and restaurants. Here’s hoping that this year is an even bigger success.   
  1. Cyber Monday: First Monday After Thanksgiving 
    “Cyber Monday” first popped up in a 2005 Shop.org press release noting that online sales on the Monday after Thanksgiving were on the rise. Without smartphones or widespread access to high-speed internet, it’s believed that sales were driven by shoppers who were placing their online orders on their work computers. (Maybe Black Friday shoppers were just tired of throwing elbows to get a good deal on a laptop.)  

    Seeing an opportunity, online retailers started promoting Cyber Monday, eventually extending Cyber Monday deals throughout the week. Cyber Monday was the largest U.S. retail shopping day in 2022, with sales reaching over $11.3 billion. 
  1. Giving Tuesday: First Tuesday after Thanksgiving 
    Giving Tuesday was introduced in 2012 in New York City by the 92nd Street Y and the United Nations Foundation to “inspire generosity around the world.” The idea was that after some indulgent holiday consumption, shoppers would welcome the chance to give back, and since Cyber Monday and Black Friday were taken, why not Tuesday?  

    Need your faith in humanity restored? #GivingTuesday went viral in its first year and generated about $10 million for charity. $28 million was donated the following year, and today, nonprofits all over the world host fundraisers for Giving Tuesday.  
  1. Super Saturday: Last Saturday Before Christmas 
    Like Cyber Monday, Super Saturday was born out of existing shopping habits, with news outlets noting as early as 2007 that the last Saturday before Christmas was often the biggest shopping day of the holiday season. Super Saturday (Panic Saturday, if you prefer) is a chance to swoop in for a last-minute Christmas gift or stocking stuffer. “Fasten your seat belt because it’s going to be busy, it’s going to be deep discounts, and it’s going to be mayhem,” said Marshal Cohen, chief industry analyst for NPD Group.  

    Super Saturday remains one of the biggest shopping days of the holiday season, eclipsed only by Black Friday. In 2022, an estimated 158 million shoppers spent the day at big-box stores like Walmart or shopped at online retailers like Amazon. Maybe those numbers are driven by procrastinators, but we prefer to think of them as savvy shoppers.  
  1. Singles’ Day: November 11th 
    Singles’ Day started as an anti-Valentine’s day, not unlike the U.S.’s Singles Awareness Day. As the story goes, four students at China’s Nanjing University wanted to celebrate singledom (and maybe an excuse to party) in 1993 and came up with “Bachelor’s Day.” The students agreed to celebrate the holiday on November 11th because 11/11 has four singles banding together. 

    Singles’ Day caught on among men and women, and it didn’t take long before it was an unofficial national holiday in China. Singles’ Day is now the world’s largest online shopping holiday, with the e-commerce company Alibaba generating $84.5 billion in sales on Singles’ Day in 2022.  

Learn the Habits of Shoppers 

Interested in learning more about what makes shoppers tick? The University of Texas Permian Basin offers two online programs you may be interested in, especially if you’re keen on learning how to leverage consumer behavior for marketing and business strategies:  

We also offer an undergraduate certificate in digital marketing that can be completed in tandem with any of our online bachelor’s degree programs. If you’re a fan of window shopping, check out our online marketing programs before applying to the one that’s right for you.  

Sources: 
https://www.huffpost.com/entry/black-friday-history-why-is-it-called-black-friday_l_5d951322e4b02911e1154386
http://web.archive.org/web/20101127132816/http:/www.shop.org/c/journal_articles/view_article_content?groupId=1&articleId=623&version=1.0  
https://www.investopedia.com/terms/c/cybermonday.asp
https://www.vox.com/future-perfect/21727010/giving-tuesday-explained-charity-nonprofits
https://www.investopedia.com/super-saturday-definition-5210183#citation-16
https://www.washingtonpost.com/business/2022/08/04/back-to-school-shopping-inflation/