Black Friday has steadily become known as the starting gun on the Christmas shopping frenzy as online retailers slash their prices.
But while the annual retail day has taken hold in the UK, the term — as we most commonly know it — originated on the other side of the Atlantic.
The American festival of Thanksgiving always occurs on a Thursday and is a national holiday in the US.
With everyone still full from their turkey dinners and off work the next day in the States, retailers decided that the following Friday was the perfect time to bring down their prices and encourage shoppers to get their credit cards out.
Since its inception, Black Friday has become a huge global retail event and one of the biggest in the calendar, with shoppers flocking in store and online to snap up deals.
Why is it called Black Friday?
The origin of Black Friday is much debated, but one of the most popular theories is that it dates back to Philadelphia in the 1960s.
It was used to describe the chaos that unfolded on the day between Thanksgiving and the football game between the Army and the Navy, which happened every year.
Huge crowds would descend to the city to attend the football game, and also start their Christmas shopping. This lead to huge crowds, traffic jams, accidents and shoplifting.
After a few years the term was popular in Philadelphia, and local retailers started taking advantage by offering "Black Friday deals".
Another theory is that it takes its name due to profits made by shops allowed them to "move into the black" — an old accounting term for when a business is in profit.
Accountants would traditionally use a black pen in their books to denote profit and a red pen to easily spot debt or outgoings.
For some shops, the money they take on Black Friday can be better than December Christmas profits and for others, it allows them to reduce their prices in the lead-up to the big Christian festival on the 25th of the month.
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In the UK, the term Black Friday also has a different meaning. It is the term the emergency services uses to refer to the Friday before Christmas and the resulting carnage in pubs and clubs.
With many workers often paid on the Friday before Christmas, the evening is often particularly busy as revellers get into the Christmas spirit.
However, the potent mix of wages in the pocket, free-flowing booze, many companies breaking for Christmas and cold conditions can mean extra pressure on the police and ambulance services.
Some also dub the day “Black Eye Friday” due to the number of fights that break out between partygoers that night.
While Black Friday does still have connotations with pre-Christmas boozing, since 2014 the term has become more associated with the massive shopping event.
Where did Black Friday come from?
It is traditionally the day which follows Thanksgiving in America and is regarded as the beginning of the Christmas shopping season.
Americans have the Thanksgiving Thursday — a day marking the harvest but also the US' founding — and the next day as public holidays, so people celebrating have four days free to shop.
Recent years have seen retailers stay open longer or start earlier with special deals to entice customers.
The idea has now spread across the world with many other countries also participating in the day, or week, of frenzied shopping, despite not having it correlate with a bank holiday.
Each year, big retailers like Amazon, Argos and Morrisons use Black Friday to give massive price reductions to shoppers just before the celebratory Christmas season starts.
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