(Fotocredit: Eugene Zhyvchik from Unsplash)

The subdued consumer sentiment is also reflected in the willingness to spend on gifts this year. 3 out of 10 consumers want to spend less on Christmas presents this year, but only 1 in 10 want to spend more. The current IHaM forecast (based on a large-scale consumer survey) assumes gift spending totalling around € 2.23 billion.

Although more Austrians are not buying Christmas presents online this year than last year, spending on online Christmas shopping will increase - in contrast to offline spending.

Despite the ‘online shift’, however, 8 out of every 10 euros spent on Christmas shopping will go to bricks-and-mortar retailers.

‘The negative assessments of domestic retail managers for the fourth quarter and thus also for the Christmas business have already led us to expect this. The persistently poor consumer sentiment is also dampening Austrians‘ willingness to spend on their Christmas purchases,’ says Dr Ernst Gittenberger, summing up the latest analysis results from the Institute for Retailing, Sales and Marketing (IHaM).

‘Christmas shopping is shifting more online again this year. Domestic online retailers will only benefit from this to a limited extent, as more than half of online gift spending is channelled to international online shops/platforms. The record spending on Black Friday will also nibble away at the actual Christmas business in the domestic retail sector,’ explains Prof Dr Christoph Teller (Head of the Institute).