Christmas retail spend picked up speed in Germany in the week to Sunday 22 December, after what had been a relatively disappointing month to date, Handelsverband Deutschland (HDE), the German retail association, has said.
According to a HDE survey of more than 300 retail businesses, retailers were ‘satisfied’ with trading in the most recent week, compared to the previous week.
“Shortly before the holidays, Christmas business picked up a bit,” commented HDE general manager Stefan Genth, who added that trading in the fourth week of Advent was “better in many places than the previous week.”
Germany’s retail sector traditionally achieves the strongest sales in the days leading up to Christmas, however the big boost has yet to materialise, according to HDE.
‘Satisfied’ with recent trading
As the HDE survey shows, more than one in four retailers surveyed are ‘satisfied’ with the past week, with retailers in areas such as consumer electronics, toys, watches and jewellery, and books reporting above-average sales.
Other segments were somewhat disappointed by their trading performance, however, with Saturday 21 December proving to be slower than expected.
Allied to this, retailers are cautiously optimistic about the remaining festive sales days leading up the New Year.
“The Advent weeks are usually followed by a strong end-of-year spurt in sales,” Genth added. “Sales days around Christmas and between Christmas and New Year can give this year’s Christmas business a further boost.”
This year, Germany’s retail sector is expecting a total turnover of €121.4 billion for November and December, which equates to a 1.3% increase on the previous year, HDE added. Read more here.
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