15 things you probably didn't know about Black Friday

It's almost that time of the year when shoppers on the High Street and online start to hunt out the Black Friday deals, but why is it called Black Friday and what does 'Black' refer to?

1. Black Friday was originally the term used to refer to the stock market crash in the 1800s. Now it means something completely different.

By James A. Garfield (handwritten note) - This image is available from the United States <a class="article-body-link" href="//commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/Library_of_Congress "Library of Congress"">Library of Congress's Prints and Photographs division under the digital ID ppmsca.12856.

2. Although many think 'black' refers to retailers "going into the black" there is no evidence to back this up.

3. Black Friday is traditionally the day after Thanksgiving in the US which is the fourth Thursday in November.

4. Before Black Friday there were Santa Claus parades which started in Canada. Once Santa appeared at the end of the parade it was the sign that the festive season was here. After Canada Macy's in the US started to hold their own parades which they still do to this day. This year will be its 90th.

• Macy's Thanksgiving Day parade in New York (2005) | © PA Images*

5. Philadelphia was the first place to popularise the term, the police started referring to the smog and traffic created by festive shoppers as Black Friday. Retailers didn't like the name and tried to called it Big Friday in 1961, but it didn't stick.

6. It wasn't until the 1990s that Black Friday became a national 'event' in the US.

7. In more recent years Black Friday has spread to other countries, namely Canada, Mexico and of course the UK.

8. In 2001 Black Friday became the biggest shopping day of the year in the US.

© iStock

9. This year shoppers have been warned Black Friday deals aren't necessarily the best.

10. Some products are manufactured with Black Friday in mind. They are usually lower quality and might be missing key features. Check before you buy!

11. In America a study has revealed that you are more likely to have an accident in a car park on Black Friday.

via GIPHY

12. Following the popularity of Black Friday Amazon decided to launch Cyber Monday in 2005.

13. These days Black Friday sales tend to cover a few days (or even weeks), so there's no need to wait out in the cold for the shops to open.

14. Last year Amazon UK said Black Friday was the biggest sales day ever with over six million items ordered.

15. This year some large retailers such as Ikea and Asda have said they won't be taking part in Black Friday.

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