The Bavarian retailers are satisfied with the course of the first weekend in Advent. “It went really well,” said the spokesman for the Bavarian Trade Association (HBE), Bernd Ohlmann, on Saturday. “Middling would be too weak, you have to be honest. But we’re still a long way from gift fever and mass rush.” The bottom line, however, was that the start was significantly better than last year, when the corona pandemic still required masks and customer restrictions.
But things didn’t go as well as in the last pre-Corona year, 2019. According to Ohlmann, however, “Black Friday” not only made the tills ring among online retailers, but also among retailers in the Free State and brought a rush of customers. “Black Friday is gaining more and more power, we can be satisfied with that,” said Ohlmann. “The great hope now is that things will gain even more momentum.” For the Christmas business – for which the sales in November and December are traditionally added together – the HBE expects total sales of 14.5 billion euros. That would correspond to a nominal 5 percent more, but adjusted for inflation 4 percent less than in the previous year. Reasons for the expected restrained buying mood are the high inflation, but also the war in the Ukraine, explained Ohlmann.
As every year, people are likely to put watches, jewellery, perfume, toys, electronics and clothing under the Christmas tree – and of course vouchers.