In 2015, the European Commission and the organizations ECODES, WWF and Ecoserveis, alarmed by the impact of obsessive consumption, launched what is known as Green Friday. It is a day of vindication that, coinciding with Black Friday, seeks to raise awareness about the risks of compulsive purchases, while consumption is oriented towards a responsible and also sustainable act with the environment and people.
The truth is that more and more companies are joining this initiative, either for a matter of principle or for environmental awareness. "There are more and more businesses that see the few benefits of a day of compulsive shopping such as Black Friday, which forces sales to stop for weeks or even months prior, to condense into a single day, with products that we do not need or are so urgent”, explained to RTVE.es the professor of Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR) and Sustainable Logistics at the EAE Business School, May López.
Precisely, a study by the EAE, coordinated by López, shows that seven out of ten online users have bought on impulse on this day, with this impact being greater among the youngest (nine out of ten). Faced with this fierce consumerism, Green Friday promotes consumption with a head and seeks that that Friday the desire to buy is satisfied in small businesses, recycling and buying second-hand products.
“People are not aware that when they 'click' on the digital platform of the day, companies start to manage 40% more orders in a short space of time, which are distributed weekly or the next day", points out the professor, a practice that implies "more failed deliveries, more waste, more returns and, at the same time, more traffic in cities, with the obvious direct and indirect impact on air quality and traffic accidents".
On the other hand, continues Álvarez-Osorio, "what we do is provide alternatives and solutions." “We are not only telling you what is happening, but also what position you can take on Black Friday: reduce consumption, recycle clothes or reorganize your closet, because we only use 40% of our clothes; In addition, with the donation, the life cycle of the garments could be extended”.
The company Minimalism Brand even goes further, which this Friday will close its sales from 00:00 to 23:59. "Stop and think, do I want to play the game of unnecessary consumption? (...) We are not interested in you not buying, we are interested in you reflecting on what your position should be today", he points out so that his clients do not participate in Black Friday.
While other large companies such as Ikea are also opting to forego Black Friday income in favor of good management of the planet's resources. Through his furniture buyback service, he offers 50% more for products that his customers no longer use, in order to give them a second life.
In neighborhood shops such as Natalia Cotillas's, in Cuenca, they have not celebrated Black Friday for years. "For me it was a big loss and for the client, in the end, the discount is small compared to the big ones, so I decided not to put it back," he told TVE. And it is that the profit margin, explains Julián Saiz, owner of a bookstore in the same city, is increasingly tight: "You have to continue paying for electricity, you have to continue paying for heating... if you apply discounts, you do the math and they don't add up."
The CEC considers that this type of campaign, aimed solely at reducing prices, "could be positive to provide visibility to commerce and boost consumption if it were really limited to one day." However, in practice, the reality is that for many brands and large platforms this campaign already starts on November 11 with Singles Day, continues with Cyber Monday, connects with a weakened Christmas and Three Kings campaign and culminates with the winter sales.
“This dynamic of permanent discounts is unsustainable, even more so in a context like the current one in which there is a significant narrowing of margins due to the many additional costs that businesses are assuming”, highlights the organization, among them , the rise in the price of light or the increase in the cost of transport and raw materials. Added to this is the problem of lack of stock, which especially affects the technology sector.
From CC.OO. affirm that "this day is a 'black Friday', literally, for the workers of the multinational and of the sector as a whole" and this is how they have transferred it to the Minister of Labor and Social Economy, Yolanda Díaz, through a letter, "to require it to monitor and punish abusive practices that violate labor legislation".
In his opinion, low wages, poor working conditions, working hours above the legal limits, precarious work, false self-employment, algorithmic control and surveillance are "common realities" for workers. "Many companies evade their Social Security obligations through subcontracting networks, temporary work and false self-employment. When they promise to create new jobs and opportunities, we require them to be of good quality and respect the European social model", he pointed out. the Union.
For this reason, the Spanish Trade Confederation recommends businesses that want to participate to do so with moderate discounts and limiting their duration. "Otherwise it would be detrimental in the long term, since it translates into arbitrariness in prices, at the same time that it distorts the winter sales and weakens sales," they indicate.
The EAE professor recalls that in countries like France Black Friday is limited, even through legislation. "The French government began to see that it was going against all interests, not only economic, but also environmental and social, because it was destroying that local business or proximity business." For this reason, López invites both companies and consumers and institutions to "reflect" and "be aware of what we are doing with our marketing, purchasing and public service decisions", respectively.
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