Black Friday (shopping) the holiday season, beginning on the day after Thanksgiving. When this was recorded in the financial records, once-common accounting practices would use red ink to show negative amounts and black ink to show positive amounts. Black Friday, under this theory, is the beginning of the period when retailers would no longer be "in the red", instead taking in the year's profits. The earliest known published reference to this explanation occurs in "The Philadelphia Inquirer" for November 28, 1981. In 2013, an internet rumor alleged that the phrase originated in the American south before the Civil War, from the practice of
Cyber Black Friday million in online sales, representing an 11% increase versus Black Friday 2008. Gian Fulgoni of comScore said, "Black Friday, better known as a shopping bonanza in brick-and-mortar retail stores, is increasingly becoming one of the landmark days in the online holiday shopping world." Some Cyber Black Friday sales are short-lived, last through the weekend, into Cyber Monday, and beyond. 'Cyber Black Friday' was created in 2009 by eCoupons.com after observing that online retailers launched their holiday sales before Cyber Monday to compete with the Black Friday brick and mortar frenzy. According to Talya Schaeffer, founder of Cyber Black Friday, "Cyber