"No Christmas presents this year": trade draws a bitter balance in the second Corona winter

Created: 12/19/2021, 2:50 PM

By: Luisa Billmayer

In the corona pandemic, online trading continues to compete with shops in the city center.

© Montage: Georg Wendt / dpa, Rolf Vennenbernd / dpa

While business in the city centers is suffering, the logistics industry is facing a shortage of personnel.

The winners and losers in the second Corona winter.

Munich - The corona pandemic and the measures taken to combat it are causing problems for many industries.

Stationary retail is also affected.

Mask requirement, person restrictions, temporary closings and the recently introduced 2G rule reduce sales.

The otherwise strong Christmas business is also affected by this.

"Can throw the Christmas business in the bin": Retail draws a disappointed balance sheet

“This year's Christmas business is a bitter disappointment for many retailers. 2G has been bothering them for weeks, and that in what is usually the time of the year with the highest turnover, ”said the managing director of the German Trade Association (HDE), Stefan Genth. Two thirds of 1000 retail companies surveyed were dissatisfied with the course of the second Corona winter so far, the HDE announced on Sunday in Berlin. In the trend survey, 80 percent of the shops in the city centers had negative comments.

"The Christmas business is over, we can throw it in the bin, there are no presents for us this year," said the spokesman for the Bavarian Trade Association *, Bernd Ohlmann, of the

on Sunday.

“As feared, this Saturday did not bring a breakthrough either.” Usually the last Saturday before Christmas is the best day of the year for retailers in the Free State.

Corona leads to more parcels, but less frequency in the city centers

“It's shifting dramatically from shopping in the city center to the internet,” Ohlmann states.

“The Christ Child comes with a click of the mouse, and 2G gave it another boost.” Online trading has actually increased due to the pandemic *.

It is expected that around 63 million shipments would be transported in November and December, almost 39 million of them to private households, said a spokeswoman for the Federal Association of Parcel and Express Logistics (BIEK) in Berlin.

The association represents the parcel services DPD, GLS, GO !, Hermes and UPS, among others. 

In order to deliver the millions of parcels, additional deliverers are hired during the Christmas season.

“These are seasonal workers.

In addition, some employees move up from part-time to full-time and sometimes employees from other departments also lend a hand, ”said the spokeswoman for the BIEK.

Corona: Court overturns the 2G rule in Lower Saxony

The 2G rule criticized by the trade associations is no longer a problem for businesses in Lower Saxony *: The Higher Administrative Court (OVG) Lüneburg surprisingly overturned the measure for the retail sector on Thursday (December 16).

In Lower Saxony, the rule had only come into force five days earlier.

Instead, an FFP2 mask requirement will soon apply in retail.

Video: 2G debacle: soon new retail rule in Lower Saxony

The balance sheet looks correspondingly different.

"We had a significantly increased customer frequency in the larger cities," said Mark Alexander Krack, General Manager of the Lower Saxony-Bremen Trade Association, on Sunday.

However, sales are still 25 to 28 percent below the value on the fourth Saturday of Advent in 2019 - before the pandemic.

People came with clear purchasing wishes and often spent large sums of money.