Is a bargain event like Black Friday a good idea during this coronavirus pandemic? Dutch retail workers are calling out ‘not to put public health on sale’, French retailers are even asking for a ban.
Incompatible with lockdown?
The retail world is in doubt: what to do with shopping holidays, such as Singles’ Day and Black Friday? November is bargain month: good news for the retail trade that suffers under the weight of corona measures, you might think.
But organizing a bargain day in full lockdown might not be the best of ideas. “There is a partial lockdown. Black Friday is incompatible with this,” says Dutch retail trade union FNV. “Black Friday is funshopping. During this Black Friday, the hustle and bustle in the stores will only increase, because there aren’t many other possibilities for funshopping.” Indeed, while stores are currently closed in countries like France, Belgium and England, they are still open in the Netherlands.
Scandalous inequality
The trade union leaders are calling for ‘public health not to be put on sale as well’. They discourage retailers from taking part and ask for actions that allow customers to enter in limited numbers. In addition, the inequality between e-commerce and physical stores is once again painfully obvious: online, all stores are open and ‘coronaproof’ fun shopping is possible.
The problem also applies to distribution centres, where “certainly in busy times it is impossible to follow the safety measures”, notes FNV: “This is going to result in absolutely very undesirable situations.” In France, therefore, four major trade federations are launching an unprecedented joint appeal: ban Black Friday, including online. What’s more: also ban the sale of non-essential products online.
“The measures taken to combat the spread of the virus only serve to exacerbate the scandalous inequality of treatment between physical and online retailers, to the detriment of the former and solely for the benefit of the latter”, according to the trade associations. The fact that a ban is not feasible in practice on the truly global web leads to a simple alternative: simply reopen all non-essential stores as from 12 November, say the French.
Buying doesn’t make us happy (any more)
Are consumers actually waiting for bargains now? Dutch retail professor Cor Molenaar doesn’t think so. “Black Friday and Singles Day will be less important for the time being. We have other priorities and concerns than buying. Even if we start to feel happy and cheerful again, we will still realise what makes us really happy, and that’s not (only) buying”.
People are indeed buying less since the health crisis, in spite of enormous growth for e-commerce. Molenaar sees a real end to “the welfare economy” and consumerism: “You became happy by consuming, buying for Christmas or St Nicholas. But that was before corona.”
“Green” players like to join in: while Bol.com is already unveiling solid Singles’ Day deals, with discounts of up to 50%, Dille & Kamille will plant trees on Green Friday and Ikea is buying back old furniture – in exchange for a voucher.
Christmas has never come this early
Will the New Normal really become a post-materialistic world? In China, which is leading the way in terms of recovery, Alibaba sees just the opposite: the e-commerce giant is noticing a great deal of pent-up buying appetite, which consumers can celebrate this year at the “11.11 Global Shopping Festival”, better known as Singles’ Day. This year’s Valentine’s Day for Chinese bachelors will be celebrated not just for one weekend, but for two, with extra luxury and Western treats.
Amazon is also rubbing its hands: never before has Christmas shopping started this early in the year – as even Christmas tree sellers agree. It’s going to be a record-breaking Christmas, CEO Jeff Bezos already knows. And if aggressive Black Friday promotions have to give that final push, the Americans will be happy to give it that push.
But stop making Amazon the scapegoat, sighs French economics minister Bruno Le Maire: after all, that retailer represents “only” 20% of all e-commerce in France. Rather do it yourself, thinks the minister, who is giving every store that is currently closed due to the lockdown – and is not yet online – 500 euros as a gift to invest in digitisation. They will manage, won’t they?
