These stores are boycotting Black Friday – and Fairphone has a completely different solution

Despite the increasing importance of Black Friday, there are still retailers who are not offering discounts on that day this year. For example, the Jelmoli department store in Zurich: instead, the department store is once again participating in the so-called “Giving Tuesday”.

It wants to promote conscious consumption and donate money to charities, as CEO Nina Müller says in a statement. Instead of offering high discounts and bargains, Jelmoli donates 5 francs to the aid organization Insieme 21 for every purchase of 50 francs or more in all stationary branches. In this way they set an example against overconsumption.

Bookseller Orell Füssli is running a similar campaign, namely “Fair Friday”. This was launched by Caritas. At Orell Füssli, customers can decide for themselves whether they want to donate 20 percent of the invoice amount to Caritas that day or receive a 20 percent discount on their purchase, according to the bookseller.

Some other manufacturers and stores are also boycotting the shopping day. For example, the Zurich bag manufacturer Freitag provides an example of ‘conscious consumption’. This consists not only of resource-saving and sustainable products, but also of circular services. That is why on Friday afternoon all manufacturer stores would become temporary rental stations where you can borrow a bag.

Sports retailer Decathlon and supermarket chain Denner are also abandoning Black Friday promotions. When asked, both announced that they already offer customers a very good price-performance ratio all year round.

Black Friday hype? no thanks

Among mobile phone manufacturers, Fairphone omits the consumer day and writes: “The most sustainable smartphone? You already own this. And we will help you keep it going for as long as possible.” Instead of promotions, they rely on refurbished Fairphone models. This means that Fairphone 4 models returned by customers after a short period of time will be refurbished and resold at reduced prices under the Fairphone 4 New Life Edition label with a 5-year warranty.

(oli/sda/awp)