The protests of "yellow vests" in France forced people to switch from real shops to online shopping. As a result, the losses of offline sales amounted to almost 1 billion euros.

Protesters shield their faces from tear gas in front of a boarded-up Cartier boutique, picketers block department stores and block entrances to suburban shopping malls.Welcome to Christmas shopping in France!

A month of violent and very destructive protests against the increase in fuel taxes and low wages, already dubbed the "yellow vest protests", has pretty much battered the French streets and left many without a festive mood. And although the government reacted with political measures and made concessions to employees, buyers across the country had a good reason to switch to online stores such as Amazon.

It is too early for most companies to assess the consequences. So, lovers of luxury brands can quite afford to fly to London or Hong Kong for shopping, and local retailers believe that consumers will catch up, because, according to their observations, tensions are already decreasing. In the short term, however, it is obvious that the activists have done retail in their country a disservice.

On Wednesday, Labor Minister Muriel Penico has already expressed concern about this on the radio. He asked his fellow citizens to return to small shops and stressed that the refusal of offline purchases. on the one hand, it enriches the economy of other states through foreign platforms (such as Amazon), on the other hand, it harms the national economy and French small businesses.

Amazon does not disclose information about sales by country, but the company has its own demonstration centers and warehouses. The company said that the "yellow vests" movement has not had a significant impact on its activities and Amazon will do its best to ensure timely deliveries. "Our employees are at their posts to respond to the needs of our customers at any time. As usual, the holiday season has been very active for us," the company said in a statement.

Meanwhile, the yellow vests are threatening a fifth weekend of protests.The French are predictably losing the desire to spend, sales are falling and, according to the National Retail Federation FCD, $1.14 billion (approximately 1 billion euros) has already been sacrificed to the protests. According to an Opinionway survey published on December 7, more than half of the French have changed their Christmas shopping plans, and one in five said they order online for security reasons.

In France, as elsewhere, more online shopping means more Amazon: according to Kantar, Amazon's share in the French market is almost 20%, which is twice as much as that of the French Cdiscount, the runner-up. At the same time, the platform continues to increase its momentum and provides users with more and more additional services that make it much more attractive in the eyes of customers than offline retail.

According to the analyst of Invest Securities Christian Gayo, due to the sharp jump in sales through Amazon, the French grocery store chain Carrefour was significantly affected. Even in those places where shops remained open throughout the protests, video and photo reports about the riots were enough for citizens to prefer purchases via the Internet.

Help is coming.In addition to the promise of assistance in the amount of 100 euros per month for workers and the abolition of the fuel tax increase, the President of France Emmanuel Macron is pushing companies to reward employees with duty-free bonuses this year. Many companies, including Louis Vuitton (LVMH),Kering group (brands Gucci, Dolce & Gabbana,Yves Saint Laurent , etc.), Balenciaga, have already expressed their support for this initiative.