How Black Friday & Cyber Monday Took Over American Consumerism, LFG Daily - November 28, 2025

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The 40-Day Frenzy: How Black Friday & Cyber Monday Took Over American Consumerism

Every November, America does something uniquely American: we spend 48 hours giving thanks for what we already have… and then immediately sprint into a gladiator arena of discounts, shopping carts, and “doorbuster” deals to get even more.

Welcome to Black Friday and Cyber Monday—the Super Bowl and World Series of consumerism. But behind the memes, the midnight lines, and the online shopping frenzies is a much bigger economic truth: these two “holidays” have evolved into a 40-day race that now decides the fate of the U.S. retail sector for the entire year.

The Origins: From Crowded Stores to Internet Stampedes

Black Friday started as a Philadelphia police nickname in the 1960s because traffic was so bad the day after Thanksgiving. Retailers eventually realized they could turn chaos into cash, and by the 1980s, the “official” story became that Black Friday was the day stores finally turned a profit (“went into the black”).

Cyber Monday didn’t exist until 2005, when online retailers noticed that everyone returned to work after Thanksgiving… and used the office internet to shop. (Truly pioneering employee productivity.)

What started as quirky consumer behavior has now morphed into an economic institution.

The 40-Day Retail Phenomenon

Today, Black Friday and Cyber Monday are not two events—they are the kickoff to a 40-day retail sprint that determines whether the entire U.S. retail sector hits its targets.

• Up to 30–40% of annual retail profits are generated between Thanksgiving and New Year’s.

• Holiday sales drive over $960 billion in consumer spending.

• The concentration of sales has doubled over the last 20 years as consumers delay purchases waiting for “the big discounts.”

  
  

This is one of the most fascinating shifts in modern economics: Retail has become extremely “seasonally front-loaded.”

If these 40 days disappoint—even slightly—you can see it instantly in stock prices, guidance revisions, supply-chain orders, and margin compression heading into Q1.

In other words: American retail is now a holiday business. Everything else is practice.

Are These Deals… Actually Deals?

Ah yes—let’s address the elephant in the store aisle.

Are those 50% off tags the real thing?

Here’s the uncomfortable truth:

Many Black Friday and Cyber Monday “deals” aren’t price cuts—they’re price choreography.

• Retailers raise prices 8–15% in the weeks before the sales season.

• “Doorbusters” are often produced specifically for Black Friday at lower quality.

• Dynamic pricing models adjust discounts based on demand, inventory, and even your browsing behavior.

• On average, true discounts vs. October prices are only around 5–10%—not 50%.

  
  

So yes, there are deals. But there’s also a magician behind the curtain who knows how to get you to hit “Add to Cart.”

You’re often not buying the deal—you’re buying the story of the deal.

The Consumerism Shift: Data Is the Real Treasure

Cyber Monday is no longer just a shopping day. It’s become a massive data-harvesting operation:

• Price elasticity models

• Real-time purchasing patterns

• Clickstream analytics

• AI-trained recommendation engines

  
  

Retailers aren’t just trying to sell you something—they’re using your behavior to fine-tune pricing and inventory for the next 12 months.

In a twisted way, you’re now part of the supply chain.

What This Means for the Economy

The rise of holiday-season concentration tells us a few things:

1. Consumers are value-maximizing.They wait for deals because they know retailers will blink first.

2. Retailers became dependent on discount-driven volume.Margins shrink. Forecasting becomes riskier. Companies live and die by Q4.

3. The U.S. economy still runs on emotion as much as fundamentals.A good Black Friday weekend can boost market sentiment.A weak one can sink retail stocks for the entire year.

The Big Picture: America Loves a Bargain… and a Battle

Black Friday and Cyber Monday aren’t going away. They’ve become cultural rituals—part shopping, part sport, part economic event.

But as the deals become more algorithmic and the consumer becomes more strategic, these events say something bigger about America today:

We’re still the world’s champions of consumption—but we’re smarter, more skeptical, and more data-driven than ever.

And those 40 crucial days? They’re no longer just a retail season—they’re a mirror of the U.S. economy itself: fast-moving, competitive, emotionally charged, and always chasing the next great deal.

Don’t leave your financial future up to chance. Let’s build a plan that gives you confidence today and peace of mind for tomorrow. Click here to schedule a meeting — I’m here to help you take the next step toward financial freedom.

Colin Symons, CIO Lloyd Financial Group

Jobless Claims were 216K vs. exp. 225K, while Continuing Claims (ending 11/15) were 1.96MM vs. exp. 1.97MM. Not the feared end of the world.

Durable Goods were 0.5% m/m vs. exp. 0.3%.

Chicago PMI was 36.3 vs. exp. 43.6.

The Fed’s Beige Book said economic activity was little changed from the last report, though overall retail activity and unemployment cooled a little. Yawn.

An outage at the Chicago Mercantile Exchange (CME) has halted trading in FX, commodity, Treasuries and equity futures for a while, now. Those quotes you’re seeing are from 10PM EST, last night. Another reason to just go back to bed.

What does it all mean? Data outage is making a slow day even slower.

Don’t leave your financial future up to chance. Let’s build a plan that gives you confidence today and peace of mind for tomorrow. Click here to schedule a meeting — I’m here to help you take the next step toward financial freedom.

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