Here is Black Friday, in Covid era stravinces the web

This year, however, the pandemic has taken its toll, profoundly changing its features and transforming what was a pre-Christmas shopping day around the already decorated streets of cities in yet another moment to pass in front of tablet and pc screens.

The mandatory closure of stores in the red and orange areas and shopping centers, galleries and department stores on the weekend also in yellow regions such as Lazio inevitably pushes towards online shopping, so much so that - according to Confesercenti-83 million euros of sales per day are passing from physical stores to the web. 

The calculation is on the days of the week because another of the characteristics of the 2020. 

Is just the formalization of the black week, already experienced in some cases in the past years and become mandatory this year, to cope with the stop of the end of the week, and dilute it so as possible in the time occasions of purchase.

 

For Fismo, the Association of Confessercenti fashion trade companies, spending on clothing and accessories is the one that is undergoing the most significant transfer, with 25 million euros per day of household spending diverted to the internet. But the impact is significant even on games and toys for boys and children (€20 million transferred to the e-commerce every day), technology and home appliances (15 million per day for both sectors), and books (about 300 thousand euros per day).

 

Also according to data from the Observatory Compass, Consumer Credit Company of the Mediobanca Group, among Italians who intend to shop for Black Friday, 84% are ready to buy online and only 42% in stores. According to the Central Director of Marketing and Innovation Luigi Pace, something good is there anyway because the appointment " can help the country to restart consumption, especially in view of Christmas. 

 

Italians - he explains-want normality and do not want to give up putting gifts under the tree". 

 

However, the budget available is affected by the overall contraction in consumption. This year, Compass still calculates, is equal to 284 euros, down 7% compared to 2019.

 

Faced with the overwhelming power of the web, the fear is that at this rate thousands of stores are gradually forced to close. "We have presented an antitrust expose to signal the serious distortion of competition that has been created with the anti-contagion restrictions: - explains Fabio Tinti, national president of Fismo - while the stores are closed, the web acts in conditions of Monopoly or almost. It is a problem that must be solved, especially if the containment rules were to be extended". 

Confcommercio has instead launched the campaign "I buy under house because I feel at home" aimed at supporting purchases in neighborhood stores "and thus help the activities that keep Cities Alive and give jobs to many people".