Did you know there's a shopping day so big that people sleep outside of stores?
They battle and fight each other for bargains and they destroy websites all across the internet.
Let's talk about Black Friday.
I'm Oliver and welcome back to the Easy English Podcast.
And today we are talking about one of the craziest shopping holidays in the world.
And that is Black Friday.
This may sound strange to some of you.
Black Friday.
Have you heard of it?
It is one of the biggest shopping days of the year in places like the United States, the UK and many other parts of the world.
But why is it so popular?
And is it as crazy as people say?
Let's find out.
Firstly, let's talk about what is Black Friday.
Black Friday happens every year on the day after the American holiday of Thanksgiving.
And that is celebrated on the fourth Thursday in November.
Black Friday is not a holiday necessarily, but it's a day when shops and online stores offer huge discounts.
A discount is when they reduce the price.
They make the price lower.
The name Black Friday comes from the idea that businesses make a lot of money on this day.
And that puts their financial figures from red, which is a loss, so losing money to black, which is profit.
So, what actually happens on Black Friday?
Usually what happens is shops and online stores advertise massive sales on products like electronics, clothing and home goods.
And some people even wait all year to buy expensive items like TVs or computers at much lower prices than the rest of the year.
I've even seen on TV and some videos some shoppers so people who are buying things getting up very, very early in the morning and waiting outside stores still during the night time until they opened.
Some people, for some stores, even slept outside the store.
They camped outside the store all night.
How crazy is that?
But sometimes Black Friday can get a little bit wild.
There have been stories of people pushing and arguing with each other to get the last discounted item in a store.
And even then there were fights.
So people were seriously injured or hurt trying to get these discounted items.
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Okay, these days a lot of Black Friday shopping happens online, and that has made it a little bit calmer.
But it's still so very busy, with millions of online shoppers all at once.
Thousands and millions and billions maybe not billions, but millions of people going online to try and get deals at the same time.
And, as you can imagine, some of the websites have problems because so many people are trying to use the same website at the same time.
So why is this crazy day so popular?
It is popular in my opinion because it is so close to Christmas.
In countries like the UK and the US, Christmas is a popular time for giving gifts to family and friends.
And Black Friday is a great chance to buy presents for these people at lower prices.
And some people even use that time to maybe buy themselves a little something special that they have wanted for a very long time.
And I think that's quite nice.
And, of course, with a lot of things or like a lot of things that started as very popular in the United States, they have began to become more popular around the world.
And I think that Black Friday is in some way everywhere, particularly with big online brands such as Amazon, which offer their sort of online Black Friday event all around the world.
The crazy thing is that Black Friday over time has grown and grown as an event.
It used to just be one day and then it became Black Friday weekend.
And now it's basically Black Friday week again.
And there's even something called Cyber Monday, which is like another Black Friday, but only online, with online shopping.
So how long will this holiday grow for?
Is it going to be Black Friday month soon and Black Friday year?
I don't know.
But the holiday has grown.
And as a result, it probably has become less complicated crazy, because there's more time to try and get products.
People aren't stressing to try and get the deals in one day.
And maybe that's a good thing.
So should you join in?
If you're interested in Black Friday, it can be a great opportunity or chance to buy some things that you need at lower prices.
But do remember to plan ahead.
I find that sometimes I notice that items on Black Friday are actually the same price or even more expensive than they are at other times of the year.
I've noticed that often companies will actually increase the price of products ahead of Black Friday, maybe one month before, and then they discount the products again on Black Friday.
That's kind of crazy and it makes people think that there is a big sale or discount.
So not so good.
Of course, it's very important to budget.
So to plan for how much money you will spend.
With crazy deals, people can get a little bit carried away.
That means they can go a little bit crazy and not think too much.
So having a budget, a plan for your spending will help control it around that crazy day.
Okay, let's review some new words and phrases that we have maybe heard this episode.
The first is discount.
A discount is a reduction in price, making the price lower or less.
For example, this laptop is 50% off, so 50% lower price.
It's a huge discount.
The second is to camp overnight.
So I said about people camping overnight.
So that means to stay outside, usually in a tent, waiting for an event or something to happen.
Okay, the next word is profit.
Profit is money that a business makes after it pays its costs.
And finally, the word we just learned is budget.
To budget is to plan for how much money you will spend.
Okay, so let me know in the comments below, or if you're on Spotify, you can answer the poll.
Do you celebrate, well, maybe not celebrate, but do you take part in Black Friday?
Is the holiday or the day a thing in your country?
Let me know.
I'm very curious.
Thank you so much for listening.
I hope you have a fantastic day.
I appreciate each and every one of you for supporting this channel and this podcast.
You're all so great and you mean a lot to me.
Thank you very much.
Goodbye.
