For many Americans, November 25th, 2022 is not only the Black Friday, but also the Buy Nothing Day this year. It’s right on the day after Thanksgiving Day, as a shopping festival. And the concept of Buy Nothing Day was proposed by Adbusters, a non-profit environmental protection organization in Canada in September 1992. It was moved to the day after Thanksgiving every year in 1997, mainly pointing to the excessive consumption that exceeds the general holidays or festivals. The reason for setting it up on the Friday after Thanksgiving is a blatant opposition to holiday spending like Black Friday.
Why do some people propose to buy nothing? On the one hand, people are too focused on consumption, which is most evident in the “Black Friday” shopping frenzy. Many people are almost emotional when buying, and often buy some products that they don’t actually need. Because of the waste and garbage caused by consumption, the earth is suffering the sequelae of this behavior.
In addition, the Black Friday crowd injuries reported by Ranker make people wary of injuries in the holiday season. People who are keen on Black Friday shopping may either wait early in the parking lot on Thanksgiving night, or line up early in front of retail stores such as Walmart and Macy’s. When it goes on sale in the morning, you can enter the store in time to grab the best and favorite discounted items. However, in the past, the stampede and casualties caused by excessive crowds or chaos in offline Black Friday really made people feel that that day was a sad Friday for shopping. However, the current online shopping, online purchases and offline pickups, online purchases and offline payment methods make people feel that sad Friday can be avoided.
In fact, according to the survey conducted by CouponBirds, a website that provides coupons to online shoppers in the United States, on the sales data of Black Friday in the past four years, people’s enthusiasm for shopping on Black Friday is not affected by the Buy Nothing Day. From 2018 to 2021, online sales on Black Friday rose from $6.2 billion to $8.9 billion, an average annual increase of 20%. 2020 hit an all-time high, with a slight decline in 2021, but sales are still close to $9 billion. A similar trend is the sales data of Thanksgiving, the night before Black Friday. Although it is only equivalent to about 50% of Black Friday, it has risen year after year, and the growth rate in 2021 is the lowest in nearly four years.
According to data from Sensormatic Solutions, in recent years, the customer flow of offline stores has declined since 2019 due to the impact of the epidemic and the transfer of online shopping, but it is expected to return to the previous condition after 2021. Because although store shopping on Black Friday in 2021 has increased by 48% compared to 2020, it is still down 28% from 2019. In 2022, due to the stable impact of the epidemic, the data before the epidemic may be restored.
So what is expected to happen in 2022? In 2022, despite persistently high inflation, rising interest rates and low confidence in the economy, figures from the National Retail Federation show the economy is doing better than expected. Gross domestic product grew 2.6% in the third quarter and rebounded in the summer, allaying fears of a recession. While inflation may affect shoppers’ spending and consuming habits, expenditure rose 0.6% in September. So combined with 2021 sales figures, NRF forecasts that holiday sales in 2022, including online and other non-brick-and-mortar sales, should increase by 10% to 12% compared to 2021, or $262.8 billion to $267.6 billion. And the NRF expects retailers to employ a total of 450,000 to 600,000 people by the holiday season in preparation for holiday shopping. While down from 670,000 last year, employers are likely to continue hiring in the coming months, promoting steady employment.
As things stand, Black Friday in 2022 will see a higher increase than before. While holiday shopping such as Black Friday may be wasteful by buying items we don’t need or overspending, there’s no denying that the benefits of economic growth or employment stabilization brought about by this economic phenomenon are laudable. In contrast, the Buy Nothing Day movement advocates sustainable consumption and specifically attacks waste. After all, if you don’t buy for a day, you won’t reduce much waste.
In fact, we can learn from each other, such as choosing local production companies and brands that use environmentally friendly raw materials. Adhere to a healthier and more environmentally friendly life attitude. Don’t spend blindly and don’t waste it casually. So you are the one who is facing those choices, would it be Buy Nothing Day or Black Friday Day for you?
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