retail
Some customers want to spend less money on St. Nicholas Day
Retailers expect high additional sales on St. Nicholas Day. Some consumers want to save on gifts, a survey shows. This obviously doesn’t apply so much at Christmas.
According to a survey, many people in Germany want to shop more cautiously around St. Nicholas Day on December 6th. Of the consumers who spend money on this occasion, almost one in four (around 23 percent) are planning less than last year. At around 12 percent, the proportion of those who want to buy more is about half as high, according to the representative survey by the retail research institute IFH on behalf of the German Retail Association (HDE). Everyone else wants to spend about the same as in 2023.
The HDE expects additional sales of almost 1.1 billion euros on St. Nicholas Day. This is slightly more than last year. Almost 33 percent of people in Germany want to buy something to mark the day, compared to 37 percent last year. Food and toys are particularly popular gifts for Santa this year.
Customers are buying more gifts online than in 2023
Overall, however, the tendency to save for Christmas is declining. Only a quarter of consumers are planning less money for gifts than in previous years, as a second IFH survey shows. In 2023, around a third said this.
20 percent want to save on Christmas dinner, compared to 24 percent last year. The proportion of those who want to spend less on Christmas trees and Advent calendars this year is also lower.
According to the survey, customers are increasingly buying their gifts online. 58 percent want to shop online, seven percentage points more than last year.
dpa
Source: Stern
