Many people in Germany want to spend more money on Christmas presents this year – despite or perhaps because of the widespread mood of crisis. An average of 566 euros, almost a third (30 percent) more than a year ago, is planned for spending on the festival, according to a survey by the management and technology consultancy BearingPoint among 1,200 consumers in Germany's major shopping streets on the first weekend of Advent.
39 percent of those surveyed want to spend more on Christmas presents this year than last year. Almost 14 percent do this because they fear they will have less money available for gifts next year. Around 11 percent expect price increases in 2025 and consider it a good time to buy certain products now.
Gloomy economic outlook
A good 43 percent of those surveyed expect consumer prices overall to rise more sharply next year. The view of the general economic situation is also predominantly cloudy, as the data collected with the support of the Worms University of Applied Sciences and the IIHD commercial institute based there show: half of the survey participants expect things to get worse. Things are hardly looking any better when it comes to their own finances: 37 percent are preparing for worse times.
Shopping at the click of a mouse instead of at the retailer around the corner
The windfall for this year's Christmas is likely to go unnoticed by some retailers in the cities. Consumers in the survey plan to spend almost 83 percent of their budget in online retail – a share that has never been higher, according to BearingPoint.
