Black Friday, which originated in the US, is synonymous with a day dedicated to discounted shopping. It occurs on the Friday following the US Thanksgiving Day and signifies the beginning of the pre-Christmas shopping season.
It has become known as a major shopping day where many retailers simultaneously offer significant discounts for their goods. This shopping event concept has now spread globally and is increasingly adopted by retailers here in Australia. In recent years, Black Friday has become equally prominent as a discounted shopping day as the sales of Boxing Day.
So, when is the next Black Friday taking place? This is slated for Friday, 31st October 2025. Understandably, the discounts are likely to create high demand for products, and there is a risk that certain items may sell out. To help prevent this, it is advisable that you plan your purchases before the 8th of December. And once the sales begin, get in early to secure the best deals on the products you want.
Some retailers may start to make their offers available in the days prior to Black Friday, with some early access deals beginning as early as Friday, 31st October. Often, the largest discounts are offered on Black Friday itself.
When does Black Friday finish? While most Black Friday sales end at midnight on Monday, 8th December some retailers will extend the sales into the weekend or open up new sale offers on Cyber Monday (which falls on Monday, 1st December 2025, right after Black Friday).
So, why is it called Black Friday? In its earliest use, the term Black Friday was associated with negative events that occurred on a Friday. Later, retailers were experiencing a slump in sales towards the end of the year and wanted to achieve a way of associating the last public holiday of the year (prior to Christmas) with a shopping event to help them boost their profits.
The name Black Friday was adopted by the retailers, who positively associated it with profitable, financially solvent companies, as in ‘in the black’ (as opposed to ‘in the red’), and incentivised this as a shopping day by providing discounts for consumers. And this is what Black Friday is today.
A lot of retail businesses operate ‘in the red’, which means that they spend and owe more money than they earn. Creating a shopping event day (which they dubbed Black Friday) at a time when consumers traditionally did not spend much money helped the retailers to transition to profitability, i.e. ‘in the black’. This created a win/win situation where consumers could purchase discounted goods and made retail businesses more profitable, giving a sense of abundance to all parties. And this is why Black Friday is called Black Friday.
There is also another theory as to why the term came about. In the 1950s and early ‘60s, Black Friday is said to have evolved out of the tendency for worker absenteeism on the days following Thanksgiving Day. That is, people celebrated Thanksgiving with their families, then, rather than going to work on the Friday, called in sick to extend their time away from work to give themselves an uninterrupted four days off (which includes the usual two free days of the weekend). The Philadelphia police named it Black Friday because it was seen as a big shopping day that caused headaches for them. After all, they had to manage all the chaos associated with pedestrian and vehicle traffic. At that point, it was not yet associated with discounted shopping, but would later become so.
Noting the success of Black Friday for retailers in the US, retailers in other countries began to adopt it as a major sales event to boost their profitability. It is now adopted widely throughout the world, with the strongest growth reported in the UK, France, Germany, Turkey, South Africa, Argentina, Japan, China—and Australia.
The Black Friday concept began being adopted in Australia in the 2010s and has rapidly grown in popularity with the Australian public. Black Friday benefits Australian consumers by enabling them to access lower prices on their pre-Christmas shopping. Effectively, it gives another opportunity for significantly discounted shopping between the traditional mid-year end-of-financial-year sales and the post-Christmas Boxing Day and New Year sales.
The lead-up to Black Friday is a great opportunity to prepare yourself to shop strategically during Black Friday. Look at the products you would like to purchase for the first time (or products you habitually like to purchase) and where they are sold. Having a ‘game plan’ and being prepared will allow you to hone in on great deals on those items during Black Friday and snap them up at bargain prices before they sell out.
Remember to stock up on De Bortoli’s quality wines when planning your upcoming Black Friday purchases. With a proud tradition of over 90 years in winemaking, De Bortoli wines have become an iconic brand in Australia. With multiple carefully cultivated vineyards throughout the country, our range of wines offers something unique for every taste and occasion.
Click here to find De Bortoli’s exclusive Black Friday wine deals.
If you are unsure which of our wines to select during the Black Friday sales, we have compiled a handy guide to Our Top Picks for Black Friday for your convenience.
Get ready for the lead-up to the pre-Christmas holiday season with some great wine choices available. For De Bortoli’s full Black Friday wine collection, take a look through all our available offers here.
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