When is Black Friday 2025? Find out the official date of the promotion in Brazil this year

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But, after all, when does Black Friday start in Brazil? Is it really necessary to wait until the official day to take advantage of the best promotions?

Although they originally take place on the last Friday in November — the day after Thanksgiving, a traditional American holiday — promotions, both in physical stores and online, typically extend throughout the month. This year will be the official date November 28But the event has already begun to drive national trade.

In Brazil, the Black Friday tradition was integrated into the retail calendar in 2010 and, since then, has prompted consumers to search for sales in department stores, malls and e-commerce platforms.

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Those who want to take advantage of this period to guarantee the best offers do not need to wait until the 28th. You can pay attention to the promotions that are already running as part of Black Friday, but there is an expectation that the official day will contain some of the best discounts.

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Research in advance

On the other hand, consumers need to pay more attention to avoid falling into the trap of false promotions or scams. The ideal solution is to research in advance, monitor and compare the prices of the desired products until you make a purchasing decision.

To avoid falling into the so-called “black fraud”, when retailers increase the prices of products before promotions and then reduce them to the original price, simulating a discount, it is recommended to monitor price changes directly on the websites of online stores or through specialized comparisons.

What are the business forecasts for this year?

According to the chief economist of the National Confederation of Trade in Goods, Services and Tourism (CNC), Fabio Bentes, the outlook for Black Friday is positive, but requires caution from traders. Attention is drawn to the high level of Brazilian household debt, which in October maintained an upward trend for the third month in a row and now reaches 79.5%, according to entity data.

In the expert’s estimation, this scenario could generate a “snowball” effect and limit consumption in the penultimate month of the year.

Even a good moment in the labor market was not enough to contain the increase in defaults, given the current level of interest rates. In this scenario, the trade is actually experiencing a slowdown in sales, as families have had to adjust their budgets to adapt to this reality – explains Bentis.

Why is Black Friday called that?

The reason for the promotion’s name is uncertain. However, there are two stronger theories. The first dates back to the 19th century, when the term was first recorded and had nothing to do with promotions, but rather with debt.

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It was 1869, and investors Jay Gould and James Fisk created a plan to try to buy all the gold available in the United States.

The movement was detected and the result – on a Friday that became known as Black Friday – was a sharp drop in the value of the metal, which hampered the duo’s plans and led to the bankruptcy of several companies.

The second theory, from the 1960s, is that Philadelphia police officers used the expression to refer to traffic after the Thanksgiving holiday. With chaos on the streets, shop owners took the opportunity to lower prices and sell more.

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To differentiate the downside associated with traffic and pollution, shop owners adopted the term “Big Friday,” but the effect was not as strong. Over time, Black Friday came to mean “back to the blue” (from the English Back to black), to indicate the moment when establishments returned to the black, that is, they returned to making a profit, after the holiday sales period.

Although Black Friday is considered the biggest shopping day of the year in the United States, history has only consistently earned this designation in the 2000s. For a long time, it was Saturday – not Friday – that promotions were held. Currently, in addition to the Friday after Thanksgiving, there is also Cyber ​​Monday, which takes place the following Monday and prioritizes the promotion of electronic devices.

The tradition spread throughout the Americas. In Canada, retailers offer their own sales. In Mexico, the day was called “El Buen Fin” (Happy Weekend). In Brazil, companies are currently creating so-called “war rooms” to handle sales volume.

*Intern under the supervision of Luciana Rodriguez