STORY: Strolling through full department stores for Christmas shopping was not possible or only possible to a limited extent in the last two years due to the corona pandemic. Without lockdowns or 2G rules, you could actually shop to your heart’s content again this year. However, because of the high inflation, the majority of German retailers are still pessimistic about the Christmas business, as Stefan Genth, Managing Director of the HDE trade association, explains: “This uncertainty in Europe with this war, which is actually very close to us, ensures that the consumer mood is not good and our dealers are of course more cautious about it. That means that expectations today are significantly worse than the current situation”, according to an HDE survey of 500 companies, 70 percent expect Christmas business to be worse than last year. Online trade, which has been booming for a long time, is also feeling the effects of this. After the Corona years, in which many consumers preferred to shop by mouse click or smartphone because of the risk of infection, online sales are likely to fall this time.