Thanksgiving doesn’t just kick off the holiday season– it also kicks off the holiday shopping season, with Black Friday and Cyber Monday being two of the biggest shopping days of the entire year.
Black Friday, a day in which people infamously line up at stores like Walmart, Target and Apple before midnight, has been around for a few decades or so.
Cyber Monday, however, is a pretty new promotional holiday, having first been observed in the early 2000s and mostly popularized by online-shopping juggernaut Amazon.
The two shopping events have inspired businesses to create even more attractive sale options for consumers with Walmart proclaiming this week, “Cyber Week” and Amazon offering discounts on products during their “12 Days of Deals.”
In recent years, there has been a big shift in the way people shop– online purchases have become far more popular than actually buying in store. This is especially evident during this time of the year.
Sophomore Mat Steininger of Reisterstown, Maryland both went to Walmart and Dick’s Sporting Goods on Black Friday and placed orders on Amazon on Cyber Monday. He said that he prefers the online option.
“I know more people shop online because I read somewhere the stock for Amazon rose more than the retail index,” he said. “I just find deals are similar and you can save time that weekend with family.”
Sophomore Anabel Rud of Berkeley Heights, New Jersey has never gone Black Friday shopping, but this year she ordered products online on Cyber Monday. She said that accessibility played into her decision.
“You don’t have to wait in lines and I think there’s a better availability of sizes and option online,” Rud said. “A lot of retailers also give free shipping during the Black Friday/Cyber Monday sales.”
For Rud, like the majority of consumers, ordering online is the quicker and simpler option.
“Online shopping is also a lot easier because in person, Black Friday shopping can get so hectic and crazy, so I’ve heard, so I’d rather shop online,” she said.
Featured Photo Credit: Courtesy of NeedPix
Dylan Josephson is a journalism student at the University of Maryland.
