Black Friday is known for the craze of lines, deals, and new items. Lines wrap around stores as people push each other through crowds to obtain their wants. Black Friday used to be an extremely popular activity to prepare gifts for the holidays, but as the internet has grown, the crowds have declined.
Online shopping has taken over as social media and the internet have become more popular. Influencers have a drastic impact on what is trending and convince their followers to buy new items. When a follower wants to buy something that an influencer has, it is as simple as clicking a few buttons.
“When I shop online, I don’t have to deal with the crowds of people,” junior Emersyn Shradar said.
Many companies, like Amazon, are strictly online businesses. This leads people to order things to their doorstep on Black Friday instead of waiting in crowds and lines. Online shopping is popular year-round, but with the added deals from Black Friday, it only gets busier.
The COVID-19 pandemic was a leading cause of Black Friday transforming to online. Social distancing to prevent sickness, did not mix well with crowds brought in from Black Friday. According to the Wall Street Journal, in-person Black Friday shopping fell 30% during the pandemic.
Online is not only beneficial for the lack of crowds, but it also allows people to see things in a different perspective. It allows people to imagine what they are buying in their own lives.
“Online is great for anything house related,” Family and Consumer Science teacher Susie Huggins said. “It lets me see the photo of how it will look.”
The shift of in-person shopping to online has broken up the chaos of crowds on Black Friday, along with encouraging people to shop from the comfort of their home. COVID-19 and the internet are large contributors from the movement to online shopping.
