No doubt you’ve heard of Christmas in July. With traditions that date back to the 1930s, this phenomenon eventually influenced retailers to hold Christmas in July themed promotions to boost summer sales as early as the 1970s.

But what about Black Friday in July?

Best Buy and Target are credited as being the first retailers to use the term “Black Friday in July” back in 2012. However, it wasn’t until 2015 that the idea of Black Friday in July really took off, thanks to the launch of Amazon Prime Day that same year. The first Amazon Prime Day marked Amazon’s 20th anniversary and was a “one-day only event filled with more deals than Black Friday, exclusively for Prime members around the globe.”

Given the success of that first Prime Day, Amazon made it an annual event — now spanning two full days. Naturally, this influenced other brands to create competing promotional events in July, with some leaning into the Black Friday theme and others creating their own spin.

As one of the summertime Black Friday pioneers, Best Buy remains a holdout. The mass retailer’s annual Black Friday in July just ended, running from July 15 – 17, 2024. A few individual electronics brands have followed Best Buy’s lead with their own Black Friday in July sales, including Dell and LG Electonics.

The other pioneer, Target, has since let go of the Black Friday in July messaging and replaced it with a full week of deals, introduced as Target Circle Week in 2023 and reprised in 2024.

In the home furnishings category, Wayfair officially announced its own Black Friday in July, a four-day event that will run from July 26 – 29, 2024. While this isn’t the first year Wayfair has participated in the summer sales frenzy, it is the first time the e-commerce company has used the “Black Friday” terminology.

Whatever retailers choose to call them, these mid-summer deal events are still designed to boost sales during what would otherwise be a slower season. According to online deal and coupon site Brad’s Deals, “Year after year, our experts are seeing more and more retailers offering Black Friday in July sales… These sales often rival the prices we see on Black Friday. The summer isn’t typically known for great shopping events, but these Black Friday in July sales are beginning to change that!”

It’s beginning to look a lot like… November isn’t the best month for deals after all.