Paris | Amazon is ready to postpone the promotional operation of “Black Friday” by one week in France, as requested by the government, on condition that businesses, closed for containment due to the COVID-19 pandemic, can reopen more quickly , said Thursday the boss of the French subsidiary of the giant of online commerce.
“We have decided to postpone the date of“ Black Friday ”if this allows businesses and physical stores to reopen before the 1er December ”, declared on the TF1 channel the general manager of Amazon France, Frédéric Duval. This promotional operation, initially scheduled for November 27, will finally take place on December 4, he said.
The Minister of the Economy, Bruno Le Maire, on Wednesday asked the actors of the distribution to “postpone” this massive operation, and his services indicated that a “new exchange” with the actors concerned was scheduled for Friday.
“I would like to salute the responsible spirit of distributors and online commerce who have accepted to consider the proposal favorably,” the Minister commented on Thursday.
A major player in this big clearance sale, Amazon finally came out on Thursday evening in favor of delaying the operation.
“We said this morning (…) that we agreed to be flexible and adapt to the request of the Minister insofar as a convergence would be organized within the profession”, explained for his part to AFP Fabien Versavau, CEO France of the Japanese Rakuten, making this last point an “absolutely imperative condition”.
For their part, players in mass distribution, such as Carrefour, say they are ready to organize the delay in promotions.
Coming from the United States, “Black Friday” is a private initiative promotional operation. Unlike the dates of the sales, the government has no control over the holding of this operation, which is increasingly popular in Europe every year.