Global eCommerce giant Amazon has been forced to push its “Black Friday” discount shopping sales in France to allow regional retail shops, currently under lockdown to open in early December and run their promotions for the day.
Amazon’s exponential growth amid the COVID-19 induced lockdown had hit bricks-and-mortar shops adversely in France, an economy which has traditionally aligned to make purchases from local mom-and-pop neighborhood stores.
Regional retailers were forced to adopt the US tradition of making Black Friday, the day after US Thanksgiving and create a holiday shopping season to compete with Amazon who runs Black Friday sales outside the US as well.
Finance Minister Bruno Le Maire called on supermarkets and online retailers to postpone this year’s Black Friday sale in order to support the regional shops who are unable to run the seasonal promotions this time (November 27 to 29) as France goes through a national level lockdown again.
Amazon’s CEO for the country, Frederic Duval remarked that the company would push the event affirming that “We have decided to delay the date of Black Friday if this can help shopkeepers reopen before December 1.”
The eCommerce giant is now set to run the promotions from December 4, joining other retailers such as European market leader Carrefour and France’s Leclerc.
Amazon’s operations amid the French lockdown has triggered scrutiny about the safety of its staff and pushing a US-style consumer culture that does not align well with the country’s long tradition of shopping from around-the-corner shops.
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