The German Trade Association (HDE) sees positive signals for the weak local retail sector before the final spurt of the all-important Christmas business.
“As things stand, there is a chance that private consumption will stabilize in the last month of this year and there will be no significant slump in Christmas business,” said the industry organization on Monday, citing the current HDE consumption barometer for December.
Consumers’ propensity to buy is increasing
The index, which is created by the Handelsblatt Research Institute on behalf of the HDE and is based on a survey of 1,600 people on consumption-related topics, rose sharply compared to the previous month of November.
The current level marks “not only the high point this year, but the highest level since November 2021,” the HDE explained in a statement. “The propensity to buy increases, the propensity to save decreases. Consumers are much more optimistic about the coming weeks than in previous months.”
The mood of retail companies brightens somewhat in the first week of Advent
The association has also noticed an upward trend in stores in recent days. The mood of retailers brightened somewhat in the week before the first Advent, the industry organization explained, referring to the results of a survey of around 350 companies.
After only a total of 15 percent of the companies surveyed were satisfied in the previous weeks, in the first week of Advent “a third of the retailers rated the sales development as positive,” according to the HDE.
The clothing and shoe trade has so far experienced a “weak” Christmas business
However, 54 percent of the retail companies surveyed were still “dissatisfied with their sales”. This applies “particularly to the clothing and shoe retailers,” which have so far experienced a “weak” Christmas business, according to a statement. One reason for this is “weak customer frequencies, especially in the city centers”.
In view of the available survey results, HDE managing director Stefan Genth was cautiously confident: “Even if there is no great momentum so far, it is clear that things started to go better in the week before the first Advent,” he explained in a statement . “With the Advent season and the numerous Christmas markets there is now a festive mood.” For the coming weeks, however, there is “still a lot of room for improvement,” emphasized the association.