Christmas Business 2021

Christmas business is also known as the "fifth quarter" in the retail sector; for many retailers, it determines whether the business year ends successfully or not. Since the COVID-19 pandemic with a multitude of closing days, this is truer than ever. This year, too, the Christmas business is facing major challenges due to the fourth lockdown. The forecast for Christmas business in 2021 anticipates a year-on-year increase in Christmas-related sales. Despite the renewed lockdown, Christmas business is therefore also likely to benefit from the underlying momentum in the sales trend to date (retail trade, except of motor vehicles and motorcyles and fuel: January to September +4.4 percent in nominal terms and +3.3 percent in real terms) and the increased willingness of private households to spend: price-adjusted additional sales rise by +100 million € compared with 2020 to 1.2 billion € and are thus a good 240 million € above the pre-crisis level in 2019. However, it should be noted that the development within the sectors differs significantly and that there is a pandemic-related shift in additional sales to the food retail sector.