Big jumps are not in this Christmas affair

Vienna. (kle) According to the Austrian Institute for Economic Research, the Wifo, the Christmas trade in the national retail trade will be anything but roaring this year. "We expect a result in the previous year," says Jürgen Bierbaumer-Polly, an expert at Wifo.

According to his forecasts, which he created for the professional badociation, the Christmas market will begin next Saturday with additional net revenue of 1.25 billion euros in the cash registers of Austrian retailers and retailers. Austrian Internet shops. That would be about as much as in 2017 with 1.26 billion euros.

As a Christmas business in the retail business, additional sales in December, which exceed a certain normal size, are therefore supplemented by sales in an average month. For certain sectors, such as the toy and book trade, as well as the watch and jewelery industries, these receipts are particularly important, especially in the last month of the year, up to twice as much as the others. month.

Optimism and skepticism
As Rainer Will, general manager of the professional badociation, explains, the trade looks "optimistic, but skeptical" about the upcoming Christmas activities. Given the stability of consumer demand, the economic environment is optimistic. What causes skepticism, however, is the "rise of purchasing power in international climates" and the loss of sales shares of Austrian online retailers in favor of major foreign competitors such as Amazon or Zalando . Amazon alone is expected to "suck up" additional sales of 60 to 70 million euros from Austria in December, Will said.

However, the local trade is also skeptical that the mild climate of autumn has lowered the mood of consumers for much of November. Sales of clothing and winter footwear in particular have declined, says Will.

Regardless of this, as reported by Bierbaumer-Polly, the December sales peak in many sectors has been steadily declining for years. "The special action days of November, such as" Black Friday "or" Cyber ​​Monday ", as well as the constant trend of gift certificates, which will only be counted in sales when traded in following months, will transfer conventional Christmas sales to other months. " One point too: more and more often are given at Christmas and travel weekends and at spa weekends (these sales, the trade obviously can not book for itself).

Expenditure per inhabitant: 452 euros
For Christmas presents in Austria this year per capita has spent 452 euros, says Will. In-store commerce buys 250 euros, the national online business 202 euros.

For the year 2018, retail sales are expected to increase 75% to 75.6 billion euros. Adjusted for inflation, however, this is a minus. Will especially complains that the Austrians bought 80 billion euros, but that only 75.6 billion euros remained in the country. The difference goes abroad.