The end-of-year holiday period and winter sales cause households to spend more in December and January than at other times of the year. For several years now, these periods of “over-consumption” have been rivalled by Black Friday, an electronic-commerce-based shopping event imported from the United States, which is held on the fourth Friday in November. While the Christmas period remains crucial for book and jewellery sales, purchases of electronics and household appliances are increasingly shifting towards Black Friday. For clothing and textiles, the concentration of purchases during the winter sales is gradually fading...