The growing allure of Black Friday sales

THE annual Singles' Day sale on Nov 11 has passed but coming up soon is the next major shopping affair - Black Friday - on Nov 29.

With slightly less than a three-week interval between the two big sales events, should retailers scurry to gear themselves up for this event as well?

The term "Black Friday" was interestingly first associated with a financial crisis when the US gold market crashed in the late 1800s.

Over the years, however, it has evolved from a crisis-related event to a ma…