It looks like something has fundamentally changed. Not only in the inner cities, but especially there. People obviously go shopping in the high streets far less often than they used to. Even before Christmas they are not so drawn there anymore. Stefan Genth, Managing Director of the German Retail Association (HDE), believes he can pinpoint the exact point in time when this change occurred: “With the pandemic,” he says, customer frequencies have plummeted” and “to date, visitor numbers have not recovered.” .
It should be noted that the Christmas business in 2021 was already disappointing for many stationary retailers. However, for completely different reasons: A year ago, you could only enter shops if you were vaccinated, tested or recovered, and with a mask, there were 2 or 3 G rules with slight differences from state to state. The HDE criticized this heavily because he feared the consequences. It all seems so long ago now.
Nevertheless, even now before Christmas, many retailers are disappointed. This time because many consumers are saving in the face of high inflation and have changed their shopping habits during the Corona pandemic. According to an HDE trend survey of 400 companies, 60 percent of inner-city retailers are dissatisfied with customer frequency. Consumer electronics, cosmetics and food retailers excluded. That doesn’t necessarily have to be bad for sales overall. A year ago, many consumers switched to the Internet and ordered online. Total retail sales were therefore up sharply in 2021.
The desire for online shopping is obviously less than last year
But this year, too, may look different. Because of the high rate of inflation, an increase in sales can mean a real loss in business. And at least for the last two months of this year, the HDE assumes exactly that. There are also many indications that Germans will not shop online to the same extent this year as in 2021. According to the BEVH online trade association, sales were already declining in the first few months of this year.
The information is ambiguous about how much consumers used the days of action around Black Friday this time. The financial service provider Mollie claims to have measured based on its data that Germans spent 15 percent more with small and medium-sized online retailers. The information service provider Experian, on the other hand, found out that this year’s Black Friday, unlike in previous years, was not the day of the year with the highest sales in German online retail. The basis for this was the evaluation of 500,000 transactions on the day of the campaign. “Only” an increase in sales of 156 percent compared to the annual average was observed, compared to an increase of 238 percent in 2021. According to Experian manager Renate Oldenburg, purchasing behavior is “equalizing”. Consumers would spend more money at some retailers on the days before and after Black Friday than on the discount day itself.
The comparison portal Idealo found in a survey that many consumers are often mistaken about the savings achieved on the bargain days. The majority of German consumers expect to save between eleven and 20 percent on Black Friday. On Black Friday 2021, however, the average savings actually did just five percent located.
The action days could also be deceptive for retailers, especially this year, says Klaus Wohlrabe, head of surveys at the Ifo Institute. Namely, when many consumers are now stocking up on Christmas presents and then abstaining in December.