A Black Friday logo in Ajaccio.

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AFP

Distributors agreed this Friday to postpone Black Friday by one week, "subject to reopening of shops by then", they announced in a joint statement with the Ministry of the Economy.

An agreement in unison between large-scale distribution, commerce and online commerce.

"This unanimous agreement was concluded with a view to allowing an imminent reopening of shops in conditions of maximum health security", explain the signatories, after a meeting on the subject with the Minister of the Economy Bruno Le Maire .

Black Friday was originally scheduled to be held on November 27.

It will therefore be held on December 4.

Logistical challenge for an operation planned for weeks

This postponement, therefore conditional on a reopening of shops before December 4, said Bercy, should make it possible to avoid crowds in stores while the Covid-19 epidemic is still raging.

Thank you to all the players in mass distribution, commerce and online commerce who undertake to postpone the #BlackFriday for one week.

It is by being united and responsible that we will overcome this economic and health crisis.

pic.twitter.com/yIL9huNnqp

- Bruno Le Maire (@BrunoLeMaire) November 20, 2020

“Thank you to all the players in mass distribution, commerce and online commerce.

[…] It is by all being united and responsible that we will overcome this economic and health crisis, ”said Bruno Le Maire on Twitter.

For professionals, this Black Friday delay represents a logistical and economic challenge, when they have already communicated this promotional operation to their customers and organized their supplies accordingly.

Decisive weekends for traders before Christmas

A decision on the date of reopening of shops, widely demanded by professionals at one month of Christmas, must be announced soon by the executive.

With the improvement of health indicators, the government is considering it "around December 1", Prime Minister Jean Castex said on Friday.

The traders want them to intervene for the weekend of November 28-29, one of the most important of the year as the holidays approach.

"We welcomed this postponement because it creates the conditions, we hope, for a decision to reopen at the end of next week", reacted to AFP Jacques Creyssel, general delegate of the Federation of trade and distribution (FCD).

In addition to the postponement of “Black Friday” and the continued decline in contamination, this reopening is also conditional on the validation by the health authorities of a strict health protocol in shops.

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  • Covid 19

  • Coronavirus

  • Economy

  • Consumption

  • Black friday

  • Trade