Black Friday, Cyber Monday or Green Friday?

Black Friday and Cyber Monday have been trending in the B2C market for quite a while, and the B2B market has caught up too. We all know the loud promotions around Black Friday, which have moved more and more online. But does the busiest shopping day of the year still make sense?

Green Friday proposes impact-focused promotions instead of discounts: responsible, conscious buying instead of impulse buying.

Businesses and consumers are catching on to the downsides of Black Friday and Cyber Monday. Some brands even boycott Black Friday and refuse to take part in the promotions.

The Green Friday concept was created in 2017 by a French environmental organisation to address over-consumption. It has grown into a movement with all kinds of initiatives. A similar trend exists in the US and Canada: Buy Nothing Day, the day after Black Friday.

Instead of "shop 'til you drop", supporters of Green Friday encourage people to shop more mindfully and sustainably. More and more consumers are aware of the environmental damage that Black Friday causes. By switching from Black Friday to Green Friday, the focus moves from quantity to quality and sustainability.

To make sustainable and responsible buying a little easier, here are some ideas for Green Friday:

1. Promote more sustainable products
You decide which products you promote and discount on Black Friday or Cyber Monday (BFCM). Every business can do something green this way, for example by promoting a selection of products with a more sustainable story. Explain why you chose them and what a sustainable choice means, for the environment and for long-term savings. Doing something good often feels better than a huge discount.

2. Offset emissions
Making and shipping products causes CO2 emissions. Give customers the option to offset them, for example with a climate-compensation button in the checkout: the customer pays a small extra amount to make their purchase climate-neutral.

3. Plant trees
Encourage customers to make an extra green choice with their purchase, for example by planting trees through an organisation such as Trees for All. As a company, you can also make a donation and offset every order with trees yourself.