saveyourzone Archives - Dialogues on European Digital Transition

It’s not just business, it’s the future of European sovereignty

European Association for Digital Transition Economic future January 18, 2021January 18, 2021Digital sovereignty, Local business, saveyourzone

Surely the scene is familiar to you. To give a gift, the discounts or just in daily life, we turn to e-commerce, so comfortable and tempting in these strange times when crowds make us feel apprehensive. And once we decide to buy ‘online’, the most reliable alternative is Amazon, with its huge offer, competitive prices and, above all, its efficient delivery system.

Post-holiday business blues and the future of European sovereignty

European Association for Digital Transition Economic future January 11, 2021January 11, 2021Digital sovereignty, Local business, saveyourzone

The Christmas holidays are over, extended in Spain to Three Kings Day, and the yearly ritual now heads directly to the sales season. A few years back it was a big social and economic event; now, in part because of the effect from Black Friday, it’s lost some relevance but is still marked on the calendar in red for many businesses.

The battle for local businesses as a symbol of European digital sovereignty

European Association for Digital Transition Economic future December 22, 2020December 22, 2020Amazon, Local business, saveyourzone

Should it be of interest, we are reproducing an article written by our president, Ricardo Rodríguez Contreras, in the Spanish newspaper El Economista, about our ‘Save your zone’ campaign.

All you have to do is walk down the shopping streets of any Spanish city to verify a reality: the lock downs and restrictions to fight the pandemic have put nearby businesses on the edge of a cliff. According to the Spanish Trade Confederation (CEC), some 67,500 establishments, 15% of the total, have already closed forever. And in the short term, almost 50,000 more could fall, estimates the same source. One in four businesses could disappear in just one year.

‘Save your zone’: A campaign going beyond local business

European Association for Digital Transition Economic future December 21, 2020December 21, 2020Amazon, Labor Relations, Local business, saveyourzone

Since the end of November, the European Association for Digital Transition has been doing the ’save your zone’ campaign in the four leading economies of the European Union – Spain, France, Italy and Germany. With this initiative, we are looking to defend nearby stores during a Christmas season that, for many businesses, will decide their survival.

OK, Amazon is too powerful. What should we do?

European Association for Digital Transition Economic future December 2, 2020December 2, 2020Amazon, Local business, saveyourzone

Amazon was born in 1994 as a bookstore, because it was clear to Jeff Bezos that book sales were a perfect fit for e-commerce. The founder of Amazon developed the right idea at the right time, and the rest is an impressive story of business success: Amazon is worth more than a trillion and a half dollars on the stock exchange today. To give some context, this is a figure that far exceeds the combined GDP of Spain and Portugal.

#saveyourzone: we call on European mayors to defend local business against e-commerce giants

European Association for Digital Transition Economic future November 27, 2020November 27, 2020Amazon, Labor Relations, Local business, saveyourzone

It is the decisive moment of the year for businesses with the arrival of ‘Black Friday’ and the Christmas celebrations. But here, too, 2020 is different: for many European businesses, whether they close the year better or worse over the coming weeks isn’t what’s at stake. What’s at stake, frankly, is their survival. If they do not perform well, they will shutter the windows forever, impoverishing the social and economic fabric of European cities.