As regards their turnover, it is still this shop type the importance of which increases most in December. Hungarians still buy more of the products used during the Christmas cooking-baking rush – vanilla-flavoured sugar, pudding mixes, margarine etc. – in the last month of the year compared to the average monthly consumption surveyed during the year.

Hungarians were spending less and less in the last three Christmas seasons. While turnover increased by 25% in the last month of the year compared to an average month between 2004 and 2006, the similar figure was 20% in 2007, 16% in 2008, and only 11% last year – this is what the Consumer Tracking data of GfK Hungária Market Research Institute show.

“The negative trend in expectations surveyed in previous years seems to be turning this Christmas season, a slight increase is expected instead of the falling turnover of the previous years, which is primarily due to seasonality,” said Otília Dörnyei, GfK Hungária’s Client Service Director.

Hypermarkets are popular places of Christmas shopping

When buying Christmas presents or preparing for the holiday season, Hungarians like to do their shopping in channels that offer a wider selection of goods and lower price levels. On the basis of the trends of the last few years, hypermarkets are especially popular places for Christmas shopping.

Accordingly, the number of visits to the hypermarket channel also increases in December; while 50-60% of Hungarian households go to some hypermarket during an average month, this proportion is near 70% in December. No similar increase in clientele can be seen in the case of small shops, which belong to the traditional channel. As regards turnover, it is also this shop type the importance of which increases most during the December season.

Hungarians buy more margarine, vanilla-flavoured sugar and baking powder

Hungarians traditionally buy more of the cooking-baking ingredients used during the Christmas preparations in December. Compared to the average monthly consumption surveyed for the whole year, a third more is bought of margarine, butter, pudding and dessert mixes and cream in December. The sale of baking powder and other baking ingredients also increases during the holiday preparations.

Serving and consuming alcoholic beverages are also part of the holiday season and entertaining guests. The consumption of both wine and spirits increases. The market of wine did not feel the fall last year, about one and a half times more wine was bought than in an average month. The turnover of spirits also increased last December compared to the other months of the year, however, less than in previous years.

In addition to home-made delicacies, chocolate is also a part of the holiday season and giving gifts. Hungarians buy more chocolate in December than in an average month of the year, but last year’s pessimistic consumer mood also decreased the sweets market. Yet, the holiday season still brings growth compared to the rest of the months: when people give gifts, they buy more than the monthly average of the other chocolate types as well: a fifth more chocolate bars and nearly twice as much assorted chocolates.

Seasonal sweets such as Christmas fondant, chocolate figures, and Santa Claus packages (for 6th December) make up over half of the December chocolate turnover. Less was sold of all the seasonal chocolate products last year than in 2008, the only exceptions were the Santa Claus packages. There is increasing demand for compact, simple gifts since the majority of customers would like to finish their shopping as soon and as simply as possible.

Clothes: Hungarians also like to buy accessories and sportswear

The Christmas season is of outstanding importance in the case of clothes as well. According to the data of GfK Hungária’s FashionScope study, an outstandingly high proportion of Hungarian households’ clothes purchases are realised during the last two months of the year, and the fall seen in the previous three years had also come to a halt last year.

While the turnover retailers realised during the Christmas (November-December) period in 2005-2007 was 40% higher than the two-month average of the clothes market for the whole year, this additional turnover was only 30% in the last two months of 2008, the first period hit by the crisis. Due to the earlier launch of promotions, the November-December turnover was higher again last year, however, 37% of the seasonal clothes turnover was realised through promotions in 2009.

The Christmas season is especially fast in the case of accessories. The turnover value was more than double of the typical two-month average in the last few years. Sportswear is also very popular during the holiday season: nearly the double of the usual monthly amount was spent on this category at Christmas."

Source: gfk.com