Grab a pen and pull out your calendar. Here’s all you need to know in preparation for the end-of-the-year shopping season.
True to its name, Singles Day is an unofficial Chinese holiday and shopping event that celebrates people who are not in relationships. You can think of it as sort of the antithesis of Valentine’s Day. Fittingly, it falls on November 11th every year, or 11/11 – a representation of four singles. The holiday’s inception began with a group of single Chinese university students in the 1990’s, and since then has slowly spread and gained immense popularity outside of China as well. Although the holiday originally began with online Chinese retailers, like Alibaba or Aliexpress, you can now find huge sales and promotions in many online stores. Black Friday feeling too far away? Can’t quite wait to begin your end-of-the-year shopping spree? This is the perfect day to start.
Occurring the Friday after Thanksgiving, Black Friday is an annual shopping day that marks the official start of the holiday shopping season. Although it originated as an in-store event, Black Friday has quickly become one of the biggest shopping days of the year, in stores and online. Dating back to the 1950s, “Black Friday” was a term used by Philadelphian police to describe the chaos that transpired due to crowds of shoppers, the day after Thanksgiving. Thankfully, we no longer have to endure hordes of shoppers and the chaos is limited to the number of tabs open on our computer screens. This year it falls on November 25th, with many retailers already marking down their products at midnight. So, gear up. And arm yourself with your shopping lists and strong internet connection.
Originally starting out as the online equivalent of Black Friday, Cyber Monday is a yearly online shopping event that occurs the Monday after Thanksgiving. The name “Cyber Monday” was coined in 2005, following research that revealed that the Monday after Thanksgiving was one of the biggest online shopping days of the year. This year it falls on November 28th, although plenty of websites will already begin their sales events beforehand. This annual holiday is celebrated by all shopping lovers, including, but not limited to gamers, fashionistas, and tech-lovers. Although it is one of the better online shopping events to take advantage of for all things electronics and gadgets, you can find any number of products at reduced prices, ranging from shoes, clothing, office supplies, and kitchen appliances.
Although not as glamorized as the previously mentioned events, Boxing Day is one of the best days of the year to score your most coveted items for a fraction of their original price. Taking place December 26th, the day after Christmas, Boxing Day originated as a British holiday that celebrated giving gifts to the poor. However, these days it’s mostly known as a shopping holiday. This annual event marks the end of the holiday season and kicks off the start of the end-of-the-year deals and clearance sales. If you’re going through some shopping withdrawal after all the madness that was the previous month’s shopping events, or you aren’t quite satisfied with the presents you received on Christmas, this is the ideal day to take advantage of.
After Christmas and well into the new year, you can find some of the best end-of-the-season sales. Following the holiday shopping craze, retailers use this time to bring in new products and mark down many of the previous season’s items. Missed some of the previous sales events? Shopping itch hasn’t been fully scratched? This is the time to browse your favorite shops.