The Black Friday it is no longer tied to a single day (this year it falls on November 27), but it is now a world event that starts at least a month earlier, with super discounts and offers also in Italy. For this reason it has become a highly anticipated appointment both by consumers and by Merchants. This year, however, the France has decided to postpone the date (climbing to November 29) so as to allow small businesses – many of which are forced to close in the red areas – to better compete with e-commerce. Also in Italy the same proposal was put on the government table, by Confesercenti.
Postponement Black Friday, the reasons for Confesercenti’s proposal
The proposal was born in the wake of the pandemic: never before as this year, in fact, purchases have been and will be predominantly online. With the restrictions related to the Covid, for consumers, e-commerce is an obligation rather than a choice. According to Codacons 25 million Italians will take advantage of discounts and promotions to make at least one purchase, 47% more than last year.
The entire week will generate a turnover of over 2.5 billion euros in 2020, with a growth of + 27% compared to 2019. 35% of Christmas gifts will be purchased during Black Friday. Data that frighten Confesercenti.
The association presented a complaint to theAntitrust to denounce the disparity of conditions that have arisen between traditional shops and online operators, especially during the health emergency. According to Confesercenti there would be a “very serious distortion of competition”.
So, the letter sent to the Prime Minister, Giuseppe Conte, to ask to ‘imitate’ France, where both large retailers and Amazon have agreed to postpone the Black Friday date to December 4th, shortly after the planned reopening of independent stores.
Consumers Union and Amazon against Confesercenti
The Consumers Union defined the proposal “ridiculous”, wondering what title the complaint to the Antitrust was made for. The e-commerce giant responded directly to companies Amazon, clarifying that over half of its annual sales come from SMEs.
“Since the beginning of the pandemic – clarified Amazon Italy – we have worked hard to guarantee the health and safety of our employees, supporting the 14,000 small Italian businesses that sell in our store”. The company specified that in 2019 almost 600 Italian small businesses exceeded one million dollars in sales on the e-commerce platform.
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