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With Black Friday sales kicking off on November 24, we take a closer look at the retail sector, from the rise of live-streaming e-commerce to the environmental toll of consumerism and the “Green Friday” movements that are trying to change our consumption habits.
The global e-commerce market is expected to reach $6.3 trillion in 2023. By next year, 21 percent of total retail sales will be made digitally. These sales are increasingly taking place on social media platforms, reaching over $900 billion there this year. One US company is trying to capitalise on this trend. We speak to Armand Wilson of Whatnot, a “shopatainment” app founded in California in 2019 and worth $3.7 billion.
We also head to the birthplace of e-commerce livestreaming: China. Influencers there have become the face of retail and marketing, as our correspondents report.
All this consumption comes at a cost, especially for the planet. In 2022, the week of Black Friday led to 1.2 million tons of CO2 being released in Europe because of the increase in trucks transporting goods around the continent. That’s 94 percent higher than an average week.
In France, the “Green Friday” collective was created in 2017 to raise awareness about the dangers of consumerism and to present alternatives. We speak to Tancrede Girard, communications manager at REFER, a network of centres that aims to encourage the recycling and re-use of consumer goods and a member of the “Green Friday” collective.
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