Black Friday Information Cascade
Why is Black Friday such a popular day for shopping? The obvious answer is because there are great deals that make waiting in line, or fighting for doorbusters worth it. But whether the deals offered on Black Friday are actually good is hard to tell. Most people know that Black Friday is more beneficial to retailers than shoppers and one can argue that many of the deals offered are for items that are low in quantity, or of poor quality and that by bringing people into stores, retailers influence shoppers to purchase more things than they normally would. Furthermore, although there are often significant deals, as Black Friday approaches, most stores release long promotional pamphlets full of deals and this can often lead to information overload.
Instead of interpreting the frenzy over Black Friday as based on individually formed opinions on the quality of deals, it is easy to see how Black Friday could be caused by the effects of an information cascade. One example of how the information cascade could have begun is the lines of people waiting outside of stores in anticipation. The image of a long line of people outside a store days before Black Friday is often shown on the news and is very visible. The onlooker can interpret the time and effort put in by the waiter to be the less than the value of the savings to be had. By convincing onlookers that Black Friday is worth it, more people join the line.
The popularity of Black Friday can also be interpreted as a direct social benefit of Black Friday as sort of a holiday. The article describes how Black Friday itself has become a holiday with traditions. That it is a designated time to spend shopping with others impacts the number of people shopping. When people want to shop with family or friends, the more people shopping at a time, the more likely that you will join them and Black Friday provides a convenient agreed upon time to do so.
http://www.forbes.com/sites/kathleenkusek/2014/11/19/black-friday-backlash-real-deals-or-just-a-marketing-scam/