Explainer-What is Black Friday? And will shoppers find bargains this year?

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By Juveria Tabassum, Savyata Mishra

(Reuters) -Retailers are preparing for what they hope will be yet another record-setting global shopping spree on Black Friday, the fourth Friday of November, which this year is Nov. 24.

Known for crowds lining up at big-box stores to pounce on doorbuster discounts during the early hours after American Thanksgiving, Black Friday normally marks the unofficial start of the Christmas shopping season.

Retailers in the U.S., Europe and elsewhere will be trying to cash in on the hoopla. Here is what to expect from Black Friday 2023.

WHY IS IT CALLED 'BLACK' FRIDAY?

Starting around the 1960s and early 1970s, police and bus drivers in Philadelphia used the term «Black Friday» to refer to the chaos an influx of people to the city created before the Thanksgiving weekend. Visitors would trawl the stores in Philadelphia on Friday with their Christmas lists looking for gifts. Shoplifting and parking violations ensued.

Department stores re-branded the term to «Big Friday» to put a more positive spin on it. But the name did not stick, and since the 1980s retailers began to describe Black Friday as the day when their retail ledgers are allegedly «in the black,» or operating at a profit, as customers start holiday shopping, according to Marcus Collins, a marketing professor with Ross School of Business, University of Michigan.

«What we know is Black Friday, because it's so ceremonial, we get more people participating in it,» Collins said.

WHAT ARE RETAILERS' PLANS THIS YEAR?

Retailers including Best Buy (NYSE:BBY), Macy's (NYSE:M), H&M (ST:HMb) and pure e-commerce retailers like Shein and Temu are already touting early Black Friday «deals» of up to 30% off on some limited merchandise online and in