They do not take off, but will be able to make themselves heard this Tuesday at the highest summit of the State. The collective of French traders "Save our traders", claiming to speak on behalf of more than 500,000 local traders and a million employees, denounces the "provocation" that they believe constitute Amazon Prime Days. These summer promotions from the e-commerce giant will take place on June 21 and 22, while the opening date for sales in France is June 30. The collective, which will be received by the Minister Delegate in charge of SMEs, Alain Griset, asks Bercy for "fairness of treatment between all forms of trade", in a column entitled "the match-rigged Amazon", published in the Sunday Newspaper.
“Morally, Amazon's action is more than questionable, even if legally speaking, nothing prevents a merchant from making private sales.
We will look with Bruno Le Maire (
Editor's note: the Minister of the Economy
) if we call Amazon, ”announces Alain Griset to
Le
Parisien before the meeting.
While Amazon usually organizes a promotional event the third week of July, the collective wonders if the American giant of online sales, the big winner of the crisis "having generated 44 billion euros in turnover in Europe in 2020 and having paid no cent of corporate tax in France ”, wants to“ evade the new European regulations on VAT which will come into force on July 1 ”.
Retailers denounce a distortion of competition
And for good reason: from July 1, 2021 will apply a reform of VAT on online commerce, adopted in 2017 by the Council of the European Union (EU). All companies outside and in the EU selling services and goods online to European individuals (websites, market places, social networks) are affected by the reform. "What Amazon does with its Prime Days is unfair competition, provocation and a breach of ethics, even if by law, it is possible to make promotions anytime," insists Francis Palombi, the president of the Confederation of French traders and spokesperson for the collective.
What does he hope for from this meeting with the minister?
"We ask that the government obtain from Amazon the cancellation of Prime Days, as Bruno Le Maire had done for the postponement of Black Friday in November".
His arguments ?
"Pure players (
Editor's note: merchant sites without physical stores
) were not affected by the restrictions or the issue of essential or non-essential products.
Unlike us, they had no constraints, were never worried.
On the contrary, they have experienced strong progress.
"
VIDEO.
Closure of "non-essential" departments: "If Amazon wins, it doesn't make much sense"
Christian Baulme, president of the association of traders of Bordeaux (Gironde) and president of the traders and artisans of the metropolises of France (CAMF), for his part campaigns for "control operations carried out by Bercy in order to verify that Amazon does no dumping ”- a practice whereby a company sells in foreign markets at prices below those in domestic markets or below cost.
Read also France wants Amazon to be "in the field" of the tax on multinationals
He considers "urgent" to "re-establish fairness of treatment between all forms of commerce", and develops: "When you do not pay the taxes to which physical stores are subject, you save 10%, which has an impact on the sale price.
However, 99% of merchants who sell on Amazon are not subject to the VAT regime ”.
Just like in the forum, he denounces "the financial power of Amazon, which now allows it to transgress established rules and economic balances to its sole advantage" and qualifies the advance of Amazon's promotional dates as "declaration of war economic ”which the government“ must put an end to without delay ”.
When contacted, Amazon defends itself: “Prime Day is an international event that takes place simultaneously in 20 countries and allows SMEs to access more than 200 million Amazon Prime members around the world. (…) In France, thousands of SMEs are participating in the operation this year. "On the issue of taxes," in 2019, the total turnover of Amazon in France reached around 5.7 billion euros
(Editor's note: after a year 2018 at 4.5 billion euros)
", Details the company, which assures him:" The compulsory deductions related to the activities of Amazon in France amounted to more than 420 million euros, of which more than 230 million euros, correspond to direct deductions (corporation tax, employers' contributions, local taxes, etc. .. "
