Black Friday will take place on November 29. This event is supposed to provide access to good deals thanks to major promotions. But for UFC Que Choisir, we can doubt it.
Real reductions very modest
The consumer association looked at the figures for Black Friday 2023. It observed in particular real price reductions which turned out to be very modest compared to the announcements of -40% or -50% from merchants. . This concerns smartphones (-1.6% price reduction in reality), TVs (-3.7%), laptops (-1.9% during Black Monday) and household appliances (-0. 5%).
The UFC explains that the spectacular reductions of -40% or -50% touted by traders are not discounts but comparisons with a reference price. “ The legislation is much too permissive, the seller is almost free to choose the reference price that suits him, that of a competitor, practiced in the past, of catalog, etc., on the sole condition of mentioning its origin » specifies the association. Not to mention that it is possible to increase prices 1 month before in order to show a greater difference when applying the Black Friday promotion. A way of doing things that is quite banal.
However, there are real and fair reductions, of the order of 5% to 10%. It is not possible to find promotions at 20%, 30% or 40%, according to UFC Que Choisir which then speaks of “ writing game “. The UFC recommends verifying this information by searching for the product among competitors based on its reference. The UFC points out that traders can use very different wording to describe their reference price and this sows confusion.
“Manufacturer’s recommended price” unconvincing
If the words “ manufacturer's recommended price » is used, this does not provide information on the actual rate that is used. If the merchant speaks of “Price at a competitor”, this may refer to a marketplace that sells very little of this product, and not a merchant being a market reference. And this does not compare the new price with that which the merchant had previously charged.
La formulation « prices charged on our site » is more interesting but it nevertheless requires checking on competing sites to be sure. The UFC Que Choisir study is based on the prices charged in 2023 by Amazon, Auchan, Boulanger, But, Cdiscount, Conforama, Connexion, Conrad, Darty, Electrodépôt, Fnac, La Redoute, LDLC, Leclerc, MDA, Pro & Cie, Pulsat, Ubaldi, Villatech.
