Int. J. Electronic Marketing and Retailing, Vol. 5, No. 3, 2013 187 Copyright © 2013 Inderscience Enterprises Ltd. Black Friday and Cyber Monday: a case study Maria Petrescu* Andreas School of Business, Barry University, 11300 NE 2nd Ave., Rm. Andreas 238, Miami Shores, FL, 33161-6695,USA Fax: 305-899-2925 E-mail: mpetrescu@barry.edu *Corresponding author Micah Murphy Eastern Michigan University, 300 W. Michigan Avenue, 469 Owen Building, Ypsilanti, MI 48197, USA Fax: 734-487-2378 E-mail: mmurph49@emich.edu Abstract: The largest shopping day of the year in the USA is the Friday following the Thanksgiving holiday. More recently online retailers have joined the weekend shopping frenzy with promotions focused on Cyber Monday. In an effort to ascertain if price levels are different during these major shopping days and a random shopping day during the holiday season, this project investigates price differences between Black Friday, Cyber Monday, and December 10. Using data extracted from the websites of five retailers our analysis reveals that price differences alone do not account for the increased spending on Black Friday and Cyber Monday. Since changing prices during the holiday may be too costly for retailers they may resort to limiting availability until price changes can be made. Keywords: Black Friday; Cyber Monday; discounts; promotions; price; retailing; e-tailing. Reference to this paper should be made as follows: Petrescu, M. and Murphy, M. (2013) ‘Black Friday and Cyber Monday: a case study’, Int. J. Electronic Marketing and Retailing, Vol. 5, No. 3, pp.187–198. Biographical notes: Maria Petrescu is an Assistant Professor of Marketing at Barry University. Her main research areas include marketing and technology, pricing, entrepreneurship and online advertising. She participated in numerous marketing conferences, including the American Marketing Association and the Academy of Marketing Science conferences. She has published in marketing journals such as the Journal of Product and Brand Management and the Journal of Internet Commerce. Micah Murphy is an Assistant Professor of Marketing at Eastern Michigan University. His research interests include pricing, business and industrial marketing, and economic development.