Black Friday, a major commercial event of this end of the year, will indeed take place.

The Minister of the Economy, Bruno Le Maire, however tried to find a solution, in particular by contacting Amazon, so as not to impact too much on small traders.

Faced with the impossibility of reaching an agreement, Black Friday is maintained but in a lighter version. 

Black Friday became the biggest commercial event of the year, one month before Christmas, with slashed prices for consumers and strong income for sellers each time.

This year, it is scheduled for Friday, November 27.

A date that is debated while most physical businesses are closed, because of the coronavirus, and therefore deprived of the event.

The government then tried to contact the American e-commerce giant Amazon, to no avail. 

An essential event on the internet and in stores 

It was then a question of canceling Black Friday and then postponing it.

But impossible to fold Amazon, the American giant of online sales.

"We wanted to bend Amazon. Bruno Le Maire even wanted to announce it on television, but we did not succeed," said a leading minister. 

>>

LIVE

- Coronavirus: follow the evolution of the situation Thursday, November 12

Yet the Ministry of the Economy even had a date: December 4, just before Saint-Nicolas.

A date on which the stores could, probably, be opened, with an even stronger health protocol.

Fnac-Darty, in particular, was in favor, because Black Friday has become an essential event on the internet, but also in stores directly. 

A lighter Black Friday 

Before his televised intervention on Monday, Bruno Le Maire even personally called the representative of large-scale distribution to take the temperature.

The Minister for SMEs Alain Griset did the same with the federation of online commerce.

Result: Amazon will do it on the scheduled date.

>> Find all the newspapers of the editorial staff of Europe 1 in replay and podcast here

And while online businesses can't let Amazon do its Black Friday alone, they're ready to stick to this year's watchword: sobriety.

"A normal Black Friday does indeed seem complicated," we told Cdiscount.

Some sites are also considering a shift in solidarity or two events: Black Friday and the reopening of stores.