Sunday 19th December 2021
Retail is criticizing 2G
“Christmas sales can be thrown away”
Until recently, the retail sector was hoping for a positive turnaround in the Christmas business, but the balance sheet after the last weekend in Advent is devastating: a third less sales than before the pandemic. Half of the stores fear that they will have to close completely soon.
For the German retail trade with shops, the Christmas business has so far gone badly. The fact that a little more visitors streamed into the shopping streets on the last Saturday before Christmas Eve does not change that. Those dealers who are only allowed to let in vaccinated and Genesis (2G) people expect a third less sales than in the same period of 2019, i.e. before the corona pandemic. This was the result of a trend survey by the German Retail Association (HDE) of 1,000 companies.
In Advent 2020, a lockdown from December 16 stifled the purchase of gifts in brick-and-mortar stores. “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 busiest time of the year,” said HDE Managing Director Stefan Genth, summarizing the situation in the industry. Many dealers are again on the edge of their existence, according to the survey, about half of them see themselves threatened if access to their branches is restricted.
On the other hand, things are going well in online retail, and grocery stores and drug stores are not affected by the access ban for unvaccinated people. The HDE once again called for a departure from the 2G Corona rule. “Disproportionate access restrictions can no longer exist,” demanded Genth. The Lower Saxony Higher Administrative Court has only just confirmed that 2G is disproportionate in trade and does not make an effective contribution to containing the pandemic. “Adhering to these regulations in other federal states is unacceptable. A nationwide uniform and proportionate solution is required,” added the HDE managing director.
Sales “only disappointment and disaster”
In Lower Saxony, the changed rule was clearly noticeable on Saturday. “We had a significantly increased customer frequency in the larger cities,” said Mark Alexander Krack, General Manager of the Lower Saxony-Bremen Trade Association. However, sales are still 25 to 28 percent below the value on the fourth Saturday in Advent in 2019. People came with clear purchase wishes and often spent larger sums. According to Krack, there was positive feedback from Hanover, Braunschweig, Lüneburg, Oldenburg, Osnabrück and Emden, among others.
The Lüneburg Higher Administrative Court overturned the 2G rule for retailers on Thursday, which had only come into force in Lower Saxony five days earlier. In neighboring countries, on the other hand, only those who have been vaccinated and recovered are allowed in many shops. From Tuesday, an FFP2 mask requirement is to apply in the entire retail sector in Lower Saxony. The state government announced on Saturday in response to the court decision. A medical mask is then no longer sufficient.
In many shopping streets in Germany there was a little busier on Saturday than on the previous weekends. The bottom line was that retailers were dissatisfied in all regions. “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. “As feared, this Saturday didn’t bring a breakthrough either.”
In Saxony, the association spoke of a “single disappointment and catastrophe”. The trade in Berlin and Brandenburg is also frustrated: “The 2G regulation is lowering the frequencies,” said Günter Päts, Vice-General Manager of the regional trade association. Nothing changed on the fourth Saturday in Advent. A lawsuit is pending in Berlin against the 2G rule. The administrative court confirmed the urgent procedure at the weekend and announced a decision for the coming week. According to the association, the trade in Brandenburg wants to go to court next week.