Sluggish sales despite full shopping streets: Why Christmas business is weakening

This is due, among other things, to ongoing purchasing reluctance. After all, according to figures from the trade association, 58 percent of Austrians feel financially stressed.

Consumer thrift is particularly evident when it comes to capital goods such as furnishings or large electronic devices such as televisions. For this reason, furniture stores and electrical retailers are currently particularly struggling, he says Trade association managing director Rainer Will.

In the non-food sector, Christmas-related additional sales in December will be 26 million euros behind the previous year’s level. Things are going well in the food trade. This is because Christmas-related goods such as toys are increasingly being offered there.

Christmas business lasts until January

According to Will, the fact that additional sales fell in December is not only due to a lull in consumption, but also because purchases are postponed. The Christmas business would now extend into January due to the many cash and voucher gifts.

At the same time, it starts earlier due to special promotion days such as Black Friday in November. “The Austrians are discount hunters and nobody wants to buy at the normal price,” says Will.

This is also reflected in customer frequency: 40 percent more people than last year were in local shopping centers and streets on the first Saturday in Advent (directly after Black Friday). Many of them were looking for bargains.

“Double-digit growth” around Black Friday

That also confirms Zsolt Juhasz, General Manager of Westfield Shopping City Souththe COURIER. He speaks of “sensational visitor numbers with double-digit increases” around Black Friday. There was also an increase in sales.

Juhasz is very positive about the remaining days until Christmas. He is betting that many customers will not buy gifts until just before the holiday.

And the weather also plays into the shopping center operator’s hands. Not only are the persistently low temperatures attracting more customers to the shopping center, but there is also increasing demand for winter clothing and sports equipment.

Minimal increase in total sales compared to the previous year

Trade association boss Will expects total retail sales of 77.2 billion euros for 2024, which, adjusted for inflation, is only a small increase of 0.7 percent compared to the previous year.

Traders’ expectations are mixed: While 38 percent expect to make a profit this year, 41 percent assume that they will make losses. Only a fifth of those surveyed expect a balanced result.

Investment stop and workforce reductions

Almost half of the retailers want to respond to the economic difficulties by stopping investments in 2025. A third want to reduce advertising spending and almost as many are cutting staff. Around a quarter will shorten the opening hours of their shops.

In this way, local retailers want to secure their economic existence even after the Christmas business. After all, the wave of bankruptcies has hit no other industry as hard as retail.