Since the early 2000s, it has been regarded as the beginning of the Christmas shopping season in the US, and most major retailers open very early and offer promotional sales. This also is unofficially or officially the start of the holiday shopping season.

Most stores offer door-busting sales to attract consumers to their stores. People stand in line hours before the store is opened, to grab the bargain of the year.

For many years it was common for retailers to open at 06:00, but in the late 2000s many started opening at around 05:00 or even 04:00. This was taken to a new extreme in 2011, when several retailers opened at midnight for the first time.

In 2012, Walmart and several other retailers announced that they would open most of their stores at 20:00 on Thanksgiving Day.

The name ‘Black Friday’ comes from the accounting practices that retailers used to record their financials for the period from January to November. When recorded in the financial records, once-common accounting practices would use red ink to show negative amounts and black ink to show positive amounts. Black Friday, under this theory, is the beginning of the period when retailers would no longer have losses (the red) and instead take in the year's profits (the black).

In South Africa, Black Friday was first introduced by Checkers but this year, more than a dozen retailers will be participating. With discounts of up to 80% on products, South African consumers can save a lot of money during Black Friday.

Tweets: #BlackFriday

Never forget #BlackFridaypic.twitter.com/fyCytEopKf

— Amit A (@amit240989) November 27, 2015

People are giving thanks for what they have one minute & fighting for what they want the next. #BlackFridaypic.twitter.com/nKVpAi1ghO

— Michael Clarke (@Mr_Mike_Clarke) November 27, 2015

Good luck to everyone on this chilly #BlackFriday... I for one am staying away from the shops this weekend! #TGIF

— The Success Academy (@SuccessAcdmyOrg) November 27, 2015

Im 100% sure im gonna get lost when we go to the mall. #BlackFriday

— jes (@Jess_Thomas47) November 27, 2015

#WatsonTrend#BlackFriday@VictoriaCraighttps://t.co/Crcs9Twrucpic.twitter.com/16KGl9LdDZ

— David Ratcliffe (@Ratty3773) November 27, 2015

#BlackFriday be like???? May the odds be ever in your favour! pic.twitter.com/XXhGYpIDdy

— UNiDAYS® (@MyUNiDAYS) November 27, 2015