THIS year’s Christmas will again be record-breaking for retailers. Bank analysts expect that Slovaks will leave more than Sk9 billion (€271.6 million) in shops for Christmas presents and food this year.
Retailers estimate turnover growths in the tens of percents, the Pravda daily wrote.
“Last year households spent a total of Sk8.5 billion for Christmas,” said ING Bank analyst Eduard Hagara. “Thanks to growing wages, this year this amount may be even higher.
“If consumption grew by seven percent, i.e. approximately at the level of the growth of wages, households might spend about Sk9.1 billion for Christmas shopping.”
Sales in food chains grow by 20 to 25 percent before Christmas, compared to sales in a regular month.
“This is a peak of the year for them,” said Ľubomír Drahovský, an analyst with the Terno market survey agency.
