Amazon France head Frederic Duval said on Thursday his group had decided to postpone its Black Friday discount shopping sales to December 4.
“Today we have decided to delay the date of Black Friday if this can help shopkeepers reopen before December 1. This year the Black Friday will take place on December 4,” Frederic Duval told TF1 television.
Finance Minister Bruno Le Maire had called on supermarkets and online retailers on Wednesday to postpone Black Friday that runs from November 27 to November 29, as shops selling non-essential goods would have to remain closed during the country’s lockdown that is expected to last until December 1 at least.
Earlier this month, Amazon withdrew advertising for pre-Black Friday discounts in the country, after the government said the campaign was unfair to small shops at time when a coronavirus lockdown has forced them to close.
France entered its second national lockdown to try to contain a surge in infections. The curbs imposed under it include the closure of non-essential stores.
A spokeswoman for Amazon said the group had agreed to halt its radio advertising campaign around pre-Black Friday sales.
Junior Economy Minister Agnes Pannier-Runchaer said she had asked Amazon to suspend the campaign. It was “not at all appropriate at a time when 2,00,000 businesses will have to shut their doors,” she told Europe 1 radio on Saturday.
A discount shopping day that takes place worldwide, Black Friday usually coincides with the Friday of the US Thanksgiving Weekend.
Amazon’s French campaign was due to run between October 26 and November 19.
The online retailer had to shut some of its warehouses in France during the country’s first lockdown this spring, after clashing with unions over sanitary conditions there.
© Thomson Reuters 2020
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