Abstract:

For the past several decades, Black Friday (the day after Thanksgiving) has been widely recognized as the largest shopping day of the year in the U.S. For consumers, it is the starting point for Christmas holiday shopping. For most retailers, it is the busiest day of the year. In 2012, U.S. shoppers spent an estimated $59.1 billion and over 307 million people visited brick-and-mortar stores. In anticipation of this day, retailers will typically add employees, increase their inventories, prepare new promotions, and change store layouts. Taken together, these factors combine to create a unique shopping event that, despite its popularity, has received surprisingly little research study.

This study examines the relationships between Black Friday shoppers’ motivations and their shopping behaviors and experiences. The aim of the study was to test several predictions about how specific shopping motivations are related to a broad range of behaviors and experiences during this U.S. seasonal shopping event. In this study, we collected data from college-student consumers who did and did not participate in Black Friday shopping during the most recent holiday season. As expected, compared to non-shoppers, Black Friday shoppers reported higher levels of shopping motivations. Adventure and gratification shopping motives were related to Black Friday apparel shopping. In addition, Black Friday shoppers with more positive experiences reported more extensive shopping behaviors and reported shopping for products that were similar to those products that they shop for on a regular monthly basis. Because the participants were primarily college-aged, examining these measures with a greater age range would also be worthwhile. We discuss the implications of our results for online shopping, other seasonal shopping events, and cross-cultural differences.

Implications for retailer marketing strategies are discussed. The results give retailers a better understanding of the psychology of the Black Friday shopper and a clearer idea of how to develop and implement their marketing strategies for both seasonal and regular shopping. Although some researchers have documented experiences of Black Friday shopper competition, aggression, and other kinds of misbehaviour, in this study we examine a broad range of behaviors and experiences related to the shopping holiday. We also examine how shoppers’ different motivations are related to their Black Friday shopping experiences.

Keywords:

Black Friday, shopping motivations, consumer behavior.