E-Commerce giant Amazon.com Inc., under the pressure from French Government, has agreed to delay its “Black Friday” sales to provide a level-playing field to local shopkeepers who are struggling for business amidst the Coronavirus (COVID-19) led ongoing national lockdown.
Other traditional retailers, including Galeries Lafayette department stores, have also agreed to postpone the shopping holiday from November 27 to December 4, 2020.
The Chief Executive Officer (CEO) of Amazon, France – Frederic Duval said in a statement, “Today, as many other French retailers and following the government’s recommendation, we decided to postpone Black Friday if this enables retailers to reopen before Dec. 1.”
The CEO of Galeries Lafayette – Nicolas Houze said, “What’s important is that we reopen our stores. If this priority comes with a postponement of Black Friday, we won’t argue with it.”
The Finance Minister of France – Bruno Le Maire, who had called on the E-Commerce players to delay the Black Friday sales, has appreciated the move. Online retailers across the world have seen a surge in sales as most of the countries have imposed lockdowns to contain the pandemic.
Re-assuring its commitment to compliance with Government authorities, Amazon News France tweeted (tweeted from French)
“Today, like other large French distributors and taking into account the Government’s recommendation, we have decided to postpone Black Friday if that allows businesses to reopen before December 1.” (Original tweet in French: Aujourd’hui, comme d’autres grands distributeurs français et en tenant compte de la recommandation du Gouvernement, nous avons décidé de reporter le Black Friday si cela permet aux commerces de rouvrir avant le 1er décembre).
Amazon is also under scrutiny for compromising the safety of its staff during the pandemic. A lengthy battle over safety measures has led to the temporary closure of warehouses. Amazon’s continued services during lockdown has also frustrated the local shopkeepers who claim that Amazon represents a very United States (U.S.) style consumer culture, which is against the French tradition of mom-and-pop neighbourhood stores. Around 30,000 people have signed an online petition to boycott Amazon.
Responding to allegations, Duval said, “A lot of people use our name to get noticed, but Amazon makes up only 1% of retail in France.”
France has been placed under second national lockdown since October 30, 2020 which will end on December 1, 2020. All the non-essential shops have been ordered to remain shut during this lockdown.
In the past 24 hours, France reported 22,845 fresh cases and there have been 1,137 casualties. It has a total of 21,10,021 cases and there have been 47,932 casualties.
The French Government is also under pressure from shopkeepers to ease restrictions from December 1, 2020 as it is the time when Christmas Shopping Season begins. Many retailers may the most of their annual turnover during Christmas.
