D66 wants Black Friday to be abolished. “That just leads to overconsumption,” says D66 Congresswoman Kiki Hagen. ‘This way we are not contributing to a sustainable planet. It’s all very tempting, but it goes against the grain of what we want to do with sustainability.’ For this reason, D66 has drawn up a memorandum of initiative with a series of proposals.
Greenwashing and sustainable actors
For example, the party believes it should be clearer to consumers what they are buying. “Now you usually don’t know if something is sustainable, he almost never says that.” According to Hagen, companies would also make false claims that something was produced sustainably. “This type of greenwashing ensures that real sustainable actors don’t get involved,” said the MP.
Sustainable actors should therefore receive more help, says Hagen. “There are already great examples of sustainable clothing brands, but they usually have a hard time finding investment.” D66 therefore wants to set up a fund for these brands. “These kind of pioneers should be raised, because they are the first runners of our circular economy.”
Clarna
It just seems like returns for resellers will be lower than hoped for. Credit provider Atradius, among others, has reported this. At the Swedish company Klarna, they hardly notice it, according to Wilko Klaassen, VP Business Development at Klarna. According to their data, sales are 39% higher than last year.
“This applies to the whole week, because Black Friday is increasingly becoming a black week,” says Klaassen. He thinks that this percentage will increase in the coming days. “These numbers are for the first three days of the week only.”
“It’s also not the case now that people are ordering different products because of inflation,” she says. These are often holiday shopping. Most buyers plan their shopping for these days. They plan their purchases in advance and only buy now because of the discounts.’
As every year, bags and jewelery are very popular, as are mascara, shower gel and other care products. Sports equipment is also becoming increasingly popular, according to Klaassen. ‘Snorkelling and padel equipment in particular are selling well. These are sports that are becoming increasingly popular, but this is the first time we’ve seen people waiting until Black Friday to order sports equipment.’
One misconception that sticks with Black Friday is that companies subtly jack up prices so it looks like you’re getting a discount, but you’re actually paying the same price. According to Klaassen, this is not the case. “Since most people plan their purchases, they also keep an eye on prices.” If companies did it this way, they wouldn’t sell anything, because people would notice.’