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In a clear, concise paragraph, summarize the history behind Black Friday and Cyber Monday. How did these two" retail holidays" come to exist?

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User Josf
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Final answer:

Black Friday and Cyber Monday are retail holidays originating from the chaos surrounding post-Thanksgiving shopping and a spike in online sales, respectively, and have been shaped by technology and globalization.

Step-by-step explanation:

Black Friday and Cyber Monday are two retail holidays that have emerged to mark the beginning of the festive shopping season and the advancement of e-commerce, respectively. The term Black Friday originated in Philadelphia in the 1960s, where it was used by police to describe the heavy traffic and chaos on the day following Thanksgiving as people began their holiday shopping. It later evolved to represent the point in the year when retailers moved from the "red" to the "black" in terms of profitability. Cyber Monday was coined in 2005 by a retail industry trade group, noticing that online sales spiked the Monday following Thanksgiving. This was seen as an opportunity to encourage online shopping through promotions and discounts, effectively extending the Black Friday sales online and catering to the growing number of consumers shopping from home. Both have become significant in shaping the modern retail landscape, heavily influenced by the shifts in technology and globalization, which have expanded market competition and consumer buying options beyond local businesses to global online platforms.

User Yuriy Zubarev
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