Delay Black Friday sales 'to give small retailers a chance'
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Business group Isme said it would be preferable if the Black Friday sales event due to take place this week was pushed back to give smaller retailers the chance to compete.
It follows a decision by major retailers in France including Amazon and Carrefour to postpone their Black Friday sales by a week. They had come under pressure from the French government to postpone their sales as smaller, bricks-and-mortar shops selling non-essential items remain closed due to the lockdown.
In Ireland, non-essential retailers have remained shut under the Level-5 restrictions in place since October 21 but are expected to be allowed reopen next week.
However, consumers in Ireland are set to spend millions in online purchases this Friday. And despite campaigns urging consumers to support local, major international brands are expected to see a surge in sales.
Business group ISME said it would be preferable if the Black Friday sales event due to take place this week was pushed back.
Neil McDonnell, the CEO of ISME said the event will put pressure on retailers as there is huge competition and an expectation of significant discounts.
"Since Black Friday arrived from the US it has upended the traditional sale period which used to occur from St Stephen's Day and into the New Year. It now means retailers who are dealing with a six-week lockdown are facing straight into a sales period," he told the
"An increasing number of small retailers now have an online presence but it is still very difficult to compete against the major retailers. Websites, logistics, packaging and e-commerce all form part of it so anybody saying a retailer should just 'go online' does not know what they are talking about."
Mr McDonnell stopped short of calling for the Black Friday event to be postponed but said it would be preferable, particularly for small businesses, if it occurred later.
"It would make sense to see Black Friday pushed back or returning to the traditional post-Christmas sale period but I am not sure at this stage if any of the major retailers would do that but it would give smaller retailers the chance to compete."
Figures from AIB show that on Black Friday last year, its customers carried out more than one million transactions with Irish consumers spending €4,500 a minute on clothing alone. They said the spending represented a 364% increase compared to a normal day.