In the space of just a few years, Black Friday has taken hold in France. Let's beware of thinking of it as another Halloween. This is not another episode in the Americanization of the world, but a strong signal of the paradigm shift in commerce.
Black Friday has existed in the United States since the 1960s, but it was Amazon and Apple who introduced it to Europe in 2010. It arrived here via the e-commerce channel before spreading to physical commerce, via the major multi-channel chains(Fnac, Darty, Auchan...) and shopping malls, taking advantage of increasingly liberal and vague regulations on sales and promotions.
Black Friday is first and foremost a growth gas pedal for e-commerce, with Amazon the big winner.
The figures are in: online purchases by the French on Black Friday, for an average basket of €118, rose by an average of 30% this year, and 40% for Amazon France. With 2 million units ordered, November 24, 2017 was"the busiest day in the history of Amazon.fr", with the party continuing on the following Monday (Cyber Monday).
What could be the reasons behind the success of such a mundane promotional operation?
While the peak of the sales season has faded, and discounts, promotions and other so-called private sales have become commonplace, pauperizing the most fragile players in the retail sector, Black Friday certainly owes its success to the appeal of its promotions, but also to two things:
- It falls before Christmas, not after.
- It is perfectly orchestrated by the major e-commerce players, whether pure players or omnichannel retailers.
The latter, or independents who have succeeded in developing their business on the net, have been able to make the most of it.
Doesn't commerce as a whole have more to lose than to gain?
Black Friday shopping in France is less like impulse buying than on the other side of the Atlantic, probably because the discounts are less attractive. It's more like early Christmas shopping. Purchases that would have been made at full price anyway are now made at reduced prices, and more often online. If the consumer is the winner, isn't the retailer the fall guy here? Especially as the vast majority of transactions (37%) involved fashion and accessories, a sector in serious difficulty today.
So there's nothing to suggest that Black Friday is boosting retail sales - on the contrary.
However, the end of November saw most stores, in streets and malls already decked out with Christmas lights, proudly displaying the black Black Friday signage.
Could it be that the pre-Christmas period, the most festive and the most propitious for the "enchantment" of stores, is dissolving into a vulgar and hollow promotional operation?
It's easy to think that commerce is walking on its head. That retailers are killing one of the last holidays that justified the "rush" to the stores. And yet, on closer inspection, their behavior is perfectly rational:
- The rules have changed. Amazon is imposing its law, and we must adapt or die.
- Omnichannel implies an on/offline continuum. Black Friday can't stop at the store door.
- For consumers, e-commerce offers many advantages at Christmas time. In fact, 37% of them plan to buy gifts online.
Clearly, nothing is as it used to be in today's retail world. The paradigm shift is not an empty word... and it's probably just beginning.