November has turned into a very strange month in the UK.

Traditionally, winter here revolved around Christmas, and all the retail planning and sales would tie into that date - big releases in September and October, for purchase before the 25th of December.

All sales would thus also be controlled by this Christmas retail calendar - the sales would traditionally begin the day after (Boxing Day), and in times of low sales, they'd begin right before Xmas in order to try and scoop up some of that profit via other items.

So far, so makes sense. Everyone buys things for Xmas, sales happen after Xmas. The fortunate hold on to some money for the Xmas sales.

The very smart buy stuff to give as next years Xmas presents in the current Xmas sales (this is adulting on a level I will never achieve).

This is the way it has been in the UK for many years.

But in the last few years, there has been a RADICAL change.

Because now we have Black Friday. We have hugenormous sales in November. Unrelated to ANY event because the UK does not celebrate Thanksgiving.

The November sales in the UK are, literally, completely random. No retail calendar accounts for this, no holiday celebrated, no days off work.

It's just been plonked into our year, and due to popularity these are NOW the biggest sales.

Why is Black Friday popular in the UK?

a) it is a v marketable name with loads of publicity built in from viral US videos
b) in December we are broke because of Xmas
c) November still has money
d) you can buy all your Xmas gifts BEFORE Xmas, at sales prices!!

In the past, you might have been able to buy discount presents on December 24th but it's high stress, places have sold out, shops are hoaching.

In November tho? Online tho? With loads of delivery time tho? Sales being successful in the UK in November is a no brainer.

But the effect of this entire shift away from the previous retail calendar is chaotic. Shops relied on people physically visiting after Xmas, with what Xmas money they had.

Now, everyone buys what they need in November, and maybe Xmas money helps refill it. No extra spending.

December is the biggest selling retail month of the year in the UK.

Only, I'm not sure it still is. And it certainly won't continue to be.

Because as much as sales are often a scam, that matters zero when it's the only time of year you can afford to buy what you need.

The UK literally has the biggest week of sales of the year, for no reason other than its own sake.

They're not xmas sales, or thanksgiving sales. They're not tied to a holiday or celebration.

It's just sales week, and it's here to stay.

The effect may be to mimic the US further, and downgrade Xmas and subsequently xmas spending.

Because ads yelling at us to buy things for xmas, don't have the same impact when you've already got your spending jollies and present shopping done.

And if that's the case, the entire retail calendar of the UK will continue to shift backwards.

Instead of big releases in September and October, we can expect them in August and September.

Instead of January sales we can expect December sales.

But we will still spend LESS.

Because the UK doesn't celebrate Thanksgiving. There's no big food and party bill in November.

And if we've spent all our money a month before Xmas, people will end up spending less on their Xmas celebration too. Food bills will go down dramatically.

None of this is BAD. Spending less is great as capitalism urges people to spend far beyond their means for the sake of a "tradition" that only exists to coerce us to spend money. As do sales.

It's just different. And seems wild when it's not attached to a holiday celebration.

The UK gets all the benefits of Black Friday with none of the negatives of an expensive day that coincides.

And people are gonna increasingly not want money gifts at Xmas, because they will want to spend that money in the previous month.

For years people have been wailing about the "war on Christmas" and it's about to be toppled by its own master - capitalism.

The only moral here is that capitalism always wins, but in this case, maybe just, it will result in spending decreasing until the market wises up.

Note - because I'm too ill to work, I don't "do" Xmas. I can't give presents, and I beg people not to give me anything.

I can however at least buy a game I've been wanting for ages in the Black Friday sales, thanks to an early Santa <3

If I could I'd buy EVERYTHING now.

Imagine being rich enough to afford to buy everything you need for the year at half the price, lolsob.