Hi there,

It’s almost that time of year again.

Wishlists are growing. Browser tabs are multiplying. People are comparing prices and saving things for “later.”

And businesses? They’re getting ready for the biggest shopping rush of the year.

Black Friday and Cyber Monday.

This year, Black Friday falls on November 27, followed by Cyber Monday on November 30. That’s about six weeks away.

Now, you might be wondering, why am I talking about this so early?

Because once the rush begins, you’ll barely have time to think, let alone plan. In my experience, this is exactly when you should get started. Get your plans in place now, so you can enjoy Thanksgiving without the last-minute chaos and make sure your hard-earned money goes where it matters most. Whether you’re shopping for yourself or preparing your business for the biggest sales of the year.

But before all that, the fun question is? Who decided that the biggest shopping days of the year should be called Black Friday and Cyber Monday? Ever wondered?

Turns out, one of those names started with people who weren’t shopping at all. They were just trying to survive the traffic.

It’s another interesting story. You must know it before you do anything else.

Let’s go back a little.

First, there was the shopping. Then came the chaos.

Shopping after Thanksgiving wasn’t a new idea.

Department stores had been using the holiday to kick off Christmas shopping for decades. In 1924, Macy’s held its first Thanksgiving Day Parade, ending with Santa Claus and officially opening the Christmas shopping season.

The shopping tradition was already there. People were ready to spend. Stores were ready to sell.

But the day after Thanksgiving didn’t have the name we know today.

That changed in Philadelphia, in the early 1960s.

Every year, the city filled with shoppers and football fans arriving for the Army-Navy game. Traffic was jammed, sidewalks overflowed, and the crowds seemed endless.

According to a longtime Philadelphia reporter, no traffic cop could take the day off.

Imagine being a police officer trying to manage all that.

Everyone else was excited about shopping. You were stuck managing the chaos.

That’s where the name “Black Friday” came from. The police used it to describe the exhausting day, and a trade newsletter recorded the term in 1961.

Retailers weren’t exactly fans of the name. They even tried calling it “Big Friday.”

It didn’t catch on.

By the 1980s, a much friendlier explanation had taken over: Black Friday was supposedly the day stores moved from losses (“in the red”) to profits (“in the black”).

It’s a nice story. Retailers certainly preferred it.

But the historical evidence points back to Philadelphia’s traffic and crowds.

And just like that, a name born out of frustration became a shopping tradition.

But that was only half the story. The internet wanted its own shopping day, too.

Enters Cyber Monday.

Fast-forward to 2005.

Ellen Davis, a PR executive at the National Retail Federation, noticed something interesting: online sales were picking up on the Monday after Thanksgiving.

The popular explanation was simple. People were back at work, where they often had faster internet connections than they did at home.

Remember, this was 2005. Shopping online wasn’t quite the everyday habit it is now.

So a new name was needed.

“Blue Monday” (a reference to blue links) was considered and dropped because it sounded too gloomy.

Cyber Monday won.

And the weirdest thing is that the first Cyber Monday wasn’t even the biggest online shopping day of that holiday season.

Look at it now.

According to Adobe’s 2025 holiday shopping report, US shoppers spent a record $14.25 billion online on Cyber Monday in 2025 alone.

Think about that for a second.

One name started as a police complaint. Another came from noticing a shopping trend.

Today, both have businesses planning months ahead and shoppers waiting for the right moment to buy.

Sometimes, the things that become huge don’t start with a grand plan. They start with someone noticing something small.

My own Black Friday confession.

So for years, I treated sale season like an all-you-can-eat buffet.

If something looked like a good deal, I was tempted. I spent on the wrong things, bought things I didn’t really need, and somehow kept missing the one big thing I’d been saving for “later.”

The irony? I was trying to save money and sometimes ended up spending more.

Eventually, I realised something: a discount doesn’t automatically make something worth buying.

So now, I try to do three simple things before the sales begin.

1. List first, sale second. I write down what I actually need before the discounts start. If it isn’t on the list, it can wait.

2. One number. I decide my budget while I’m calm, before the excitement kicks in. And I make sure the thing that matters most gets paid for first.

3. Check the fine print. I note today’s price and check the renewal price. A fantastic first-year deal that renews at full price might not be such a fantastic deal after all.

That’s it. Ten minutes of planning can save you a lot of regret later.

And if you’re running a business, there’s a similar lesson here.

Getting a deal is one thing. Making the right decision is another.

During BFCM, it’s tempting to throw discounts everywhere and hope people buy. But the real opportunity is to get the right offer in front of the right people at the right time.

That’s where tools can help.

For example, Icegram Express helps you with email marketing and automation, while Icegram Engage helps you capture attention and engage website visitors through popups, banners, and targeted messages.

But those are just two pieces of the puzzle.

If you run a WooCommerce store, you might also want to explore:

• Smart Coupons – create smarter discounts, gift cards, store credits, and BOGO deals without relying on basic coupon codes alone.
• Smart Offers – set up upsells, cross-sells, order bumps, and other offers to encourage customers to buy more.
• Smart Manager – manage and bulk-edit products, orders, coupons, and other store data without handling everything one item at a time.
• Putler – bring your eCommerce data together to understand sales, customers, and product performance, so you can make better decisions about what to do next.

Of course, you don’t need every tool on this list.

The right choice depends on what you’re trying to fix, what your store needs, and where you’re losing time or missing opportunities.

And that’s something I’d be happy to help you figure out.

Before the rush begins, tell me something.

Are you preparing to run a sale? Looking to improve your store? Planning to upgrade your website? Or simply trying to make smarter decisions before the year ends?

Hit reply and tell me what you do – blogger, store owner, agency owner, course creator, photographer, writer, a startup, or something else and what you’d most like to improve.

If you’d like to explore all our products with use cases as per your profession, just reply with:

• “WooCommerce products” if you run a WooCommerce store.
• “WordPress products” if you’re looking for tools for your WordPress website.

Tell me a little about what you’re trying to achieve, too.

I’ll help you narrow down the products worth considering for your needs, with practical use cases you can explore for this BFCM season.

I won’t send you a generic product catalogue. Or ask you to buy something you don’t need. Just a few relevant suggestions to help you decide what might actually make a difference. And this can definitely be a kickstart for this Black Friday/Cyber Monday season.

P.S. WooCommerce products/WordPress products, do let me know…

Until next time,