Black Friday: 10 tips so that the discount is not expensive CRISTINA PÉREZ

impulse purchases” and asks its customers to “avoid unnecessary purchases”. "Ask yourself, if it wasn't on sale, would you buy it?" Says the message against this campaign. Its Communications manager, Carolina Álvarez-Osorio, explains to RTVE.es that its objective is, on the one hand, "to educate so that the final consumer understands the impact of these promotions that encourage them to make excessive purchases". And, according to Ecoalf, by wearing a garment only 5 times we produce 400% more CO₂ emissions than if we wear it 50 times.

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.

online for the minimal profit margins that their accounts present: either they offer only one day of discounts or, directly, they do not celebrate it. According to data from the Spanish Confederation of Commerce (CEC), the adhesion of local establishments will be around 40%, similar to that of 2020. "Those who do, will be dragged by other commercial formats so as not to lose Christmas sales and not because it brings them a real benefit ”, they point to RTVE.es.

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.

with Christmas. Despite the fact that almost 1.2 million contracts will be signed in Spain, according to Adecco's estimates, the majority will be temporary. "In November 2020, in the Services sector, contracts of less than 7 days were the ones that abounded the most", denounced from USO, since adding the eventual ones and those of work and service of that duration, they accounted for 50% of the total of formalized contracts.

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.