Germans Spending Less This Christmas: Retail Association

Online and offline Christmas sales in Germany have slowed amid rising economic uncertainty, the managing director of the German Retail Association (HDE), Stefan Genth, told Frankfurter Allgemeine this week.

Soaring inflation and geopolitical conflicts, including tensions in Ukraine and the Middle East, have caused consumer sentiment in Germany to dip, Genth said, RT reported.

The HDE’s calculations showed that spending could be described as “limited,” he added, although the figures had turned out to be much lower than expected.

Pre-holiday sales also made a “very poor start,” according to Genth, who noted that the numbers cover online commerce as well.