Time travel at Christmas

The end of last year will not be remembered for an abundance of presents. Most families celebrated modestly with a smaller Christmas tree and fewer or cheaper presents. Traditionally, December is the strongest month for retailers, but at the moment it seems that consumers spent less than in 2008 December, when spending was HUF 856 billion. We bought at least 10 percent less food products – turnover was estimated HUF 330-335 billion. Regular shoppers might have noticed that numerous retailers tried increasing prices before Christmas – presents may become fewer or cheaper, but people refuse to give up Christmas dishes and their ingredients. Housewives complained in many stores about spending their Christmas food budget sooner than they had thought. In past decades the last year was the first when a high number of pine trees were left unsold. If we examine the reasons behind declining consumption, we see that number one was the economic crisis – and growing unemployment. In December, shopping malls were packed with people, but most of them were window-shopping. Meat consumption fell by 10 percent last year and the share of the black market was growing (40-50 percent). Despite constant complaints by processing companies, the ministry and the tax authority were unable to act. These days, retailers try to save the day by price promotions – in the clothes shops of shopping malls 30-70-percent discounts are everyday phenomena. In the first nine months, HUF 1,900 billion was spent, which means a 7.1-percent plunge in turnover, compared with 2008. OKSZ (Hungarian Trade Association) stated that consumption had been falling since 2007 and as a result of this, December sales plummeted to the level of 5-6 years before.