Did You Know? Black Friday Edition

Black Friday is getting bigger and bigger every year. Here are some facts about Black Friday, including where it started. 

In 2010, out of every ten Black Friday shoppers began their shopping extravaganza at midnight or earlier. That was about three times as many as 2009.

Half of shoppers buy clothing and accessories on Black Friday. That makes clothing a more popular purchase than electronics.

In 2010, the average shopper spent $365 on Black Friday, which is $20 more than 2009.

Even though they don't celebrate American Thanksgiving, Canada and Australia have Black Friday sales. Canada did it to prevent their shoppers from going across the border into the States. Black Friday has even become so popular that retailers in other countries offer Black Friday sales online.

For every $5 spent, $1 of that is spent on gift cards. About $90 billion dollars is spent on gift cards during the holiday season.

Return policies can change and even be more restrictive than normal store return policies for the items that you purchase on Black Friday.

Black Friday started in Philadelphia. The phrase was used to describe the increase in traffic into the city from people walking around and driving around in downtown Philly shopping.