The controversy was quickly hushed up. “Two days of savings on more than 2 million exceptional offers worldwide”, has promised the American e-commerce giant Amazon, for its annual Prime Days promotional event, reserved for its subscribers, to be held on Monday June 21 and Tuesday June 22. It did not take more to make jump some of the federations which defend the small businesses.
They denounced, in favor of a tribune published on June 13 in The Sunday Newspaper, what they consider to be “A provocation”. Especially since they had already managed to convince the government to postpone the balances, initially set for June 23. “While Bercy officially declared the summer sales on June 30, Amazon decided to bypass French merchants by organizing its Amazon Prime Days in advance. “, said in a press release, released on June 14, this collective called “Save our traders”, which claims more than 500,000 traders and 1 million employees.
He purely and simply asked “Cancellation, in the name of French economic interests”, considering that Amazon “Seeks once again to take advantage of the difficult situation of resumption of activity of physical stores”. “By launching its promotions just before the start of the sales, the Web giant seeks to capture a maximum of customers and purchasing power before consumers are allowed to take advantage of the sales at their merchants. “ The members of the collective thus hoped to reiterate the brilliance of Black Friday, when Amazon, under pressure from the government, postponed until December 4 the holding in France of its promotions, which was initially scheduled for November 27, 2020, the day before the second deconfinement.
In order to appease the spirits, an emergency videoconference meeting was organized on Tuesday, June 15 at the end of the day, around Alain Griset, the Minister for SMEs. Goal : ” listen to them “, all in “Overwhelming the debate”, but also explain to them that “Everyone is doing private sales at the moment”, one emphasizes at Bercy. “Any business that wishes can make promotional offers, provided it is within a short time frame and with a limited frequency. “ And, above all, that the merchant does not sell at a loss, which is reserved for periods of sales.
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