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Trade: in full re-containment, the holding of Black Friday is controversial

2020-11-03T05:30:26.307Z


Small shops closed, large distribution limited to essential products: the giants of online sales are well on their way to tailoring


For several years now, Black Friday has been the perfect opportunity to shop for Christmas by taking advantage of considerable promotions.

In 2020, this commercial operation from across the Atlantic is set for Friday, November 27.

But in full containment against the Covid-19 epidemic, the ban on opening for thousands of star Christmas shops - bookstores, toy stores, jewelry stores, etc.

- coupled with the ban on the sale of non-essential products in supermarkets makes the 2020 edition sulphurous.

United for the occasion, small traders as well as major retailers fear seeing purchases shifting online to digital giants already regularly accused of unfair competition.

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"Black Friday 2020 is the low hand operation of Amazon and others on Christmas shopping", summarizes a bookseller in Hauts-de-Seine.

Several federations which will meet Bruno Le Maire, the Minister of the Economy, throughout the week, have planned to alert the government to a distortion of competition.

The National Council of Shopping Centers even calls for "the immediate ban of Black Friday planned with much media hype in full confinement".

"Impossible", we reply to Bercy.

"Banning or penalizing online activity would be inconsistent with our message to avoid as much as possible outings to avoid the spread of the virus", we explain to the cabinet of Alain Griset, the minister delegate in charge of TPE -SME.

Above all, unlike sales, which are highly regulated by law, Black Friday is only a period of promotions with blurred outlines.

The emerging controversy has not escaped the giants of online sales.

"We do not plan to cancel, but we will be sober," promises Emmanuel Grenier, CEO of Cdiscount, French leader in e-commerce.

This is also the position of Amazon.

The American giant, which still surfed the theme "buy in advance and relax" with a "Black Friday before the hour", announced that it was going to suspend its communication campaign.

"Increased controls for Internet purchases"

The platforms keep a low profile, but they rub their hands: "In France, all the distribution centers will run at full speed", cowardly, bitter, a senior official.

So Bercy refers… to individual responsibility!

"We worked for fairness, the French to make it real, we explain to the ministry, although powerless to prevent the giants of e-commerce to win the stake.

On Black Friday, small traders can do it in their window and consumers can enjoy it

in click and collect

”.

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However, the future winners of the event will remain closely watched.

"We have implemented increased controls for Internet purchases," warns Romain Roussel, chief of staff at the Directorate-General for Competition, Consumer Affairs and Fraud Control (DGCCRF).

We monitor the benchmark prices of major online shopping sites and track down fake promos.

"

Source: leparis

All business articles on 2020-11-03

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