"Black Friday": the debate on the supervision of promotions relaunched

Audio 03:33

Posters announcing "Black Friday" on the front of a store.

AFP / File

By: Aabla Jounaïdi Follow

8 min

In France, “Black Friday”, “Black Friday”, a major commercial promotion celebration initially scheduled for November 27, 2020 is therefore postponed to December 4.

The major retail platforms, in particular Amazon, have consented to it at the request of the government, which wishes to promote non-essential businesses weakened by the closure imposed by health restrictions.

Publicity

The date and modalities of their reopening should be announced by President Emmanuel Macron on Tuesday, November 24.

The big brands had already been called on to limit their advertising around the event.

But the debate on the merits of this operation reopened during the crisis.

Paradoxically, it is a great publicity stunt for this " 

 ", whose voices go so far as to call for a boycott.

It should be remembered that "Black Friday" is a shopping tradition that came straight from the United States.

An operation placed conveniently between the family celebration of

and Christmas.

She recently arrived in France, in 2013. But her success cannot be denied.

Last year, this rebate operation, which in principle lasts a weekend but actually extends over a week, generated 6 billion euros in turnover.

Figures hitherto constantly increasing.

Purchases that are increasingly made online

And this year in confinement has reinforced the trend.

Hence the concern of physical businesses who fear missing out on the event.

But should it be canceled, as requested by four federations of traders?

Decried, the giant Amazon which is surfing the health crisis and has agreed to postpone “Black Friday”, believes that traders and suppliers also take advantage of its platform to sell their goods.

And there is no reason, according to its director France, to deprive of a promotional party, the French who are preparing their Christmas shopping.

False "

Black Friday

"

discounts

The consumer association UFC Que Choisir, reveals that a large part of the promotions offered during “Black Friday” are not.

Amazon is not mentioned, but others yes, such as Cdiscount, Darty, Fnac or Boulanger.

The main complaint?

Indulge in the now well-known practice of inflating prices some time before the operation.

This makes it possible during “Black Friday” to display apparently huge discounts on the flagship products of the season, such as electronics and household appliances.

Year after year, the UFC Que Choisir shows that the reductions observed are in fact minimal.

A practice pinned down each time but facilitated by the absence of regulation.

In France, there is no regulation of price reductions.

A trader can display the starting price he wants, as long as it has already been charged once in his store, and as long as he does not sell the product at a loss.

This is why the prices can make the yoyo and make consumers lose the north.

End the price jungle

The environmental deputy Delphine Batho, who opposes for ideological reasons to "Black Friday

», Recalled that the operation violated the law against waste, voted this year.

But the former minister is joined by officials from other political sides when she emphasizes that online shopping platforms mislead consumers by posting discounts comparable to sales when the latter are strictly supervised.

But today it's up to a judge to determine on a case-by-case basis whether the consumer has been misled.

For non-sale transactions such as "

Black Friday ”, we must therefore strengthen the law, believes the UFC Que Choisir.

By transposing a European directive adopted last year which requires taking as the reference price the lowest price practiced in the month preceding the operation;

and display it next to the new price.

In the meantime, the best advice is not to rush into an offer and take the time to compare prices between different platforms, and if possible follow their evolution over time.

Unless of course you have decided to boycott “Black Friday”.

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France: Amazon agrees to postpone "Black Friday"