Around the Globe, a Mixed Shopping Bag
The Christmas shopping season looks grim for many of the big European retailers, while the economic crunch in Asia has stopped holiday cash registers from ringing much at all.
As always, stores and streets are full of colorful displays and herds of shoppers are prowling the sidewalks and malls, but the fortunes of merchants vary as sharply as the world’s economies.
Although Christmas has much less of a tradition in Asia, many countries in recent years have picked up some of the spirit with decorations, parties and--of course--shopping.
But this year, those Western-style traditions are less in evidence, because a debt and currency crisis has struck southeast Asian economies and Japan, causing some high-profile business failures.
South Koreans often go caroling in the streets around Christmastime, but this year things are quiet as their economy was particularly hard hit. Big retailers say sales have fallen by about 20% over the last month.
“People seem to worry more about necessities and think this is a bad time to spend money on gifts,” said Chang Hae-jin, spokeswoman at Shinsegye Department Store in Seoul.
The same quiet troubled retailers elsewhere in Asia.
“It’s mid-December, but not many people are looking for presents,” said Tachakorn Kovadhana, owner of the Treats gift shop on Silom Road, a busy Bangkok retail area. “My shop is usually visited by a large number of customers, at least 80 to 100 a day, but lately the maximum number has been about 40.”
European economies, although in better shape than Asia, are also stumbling, suffering high unemployment and the effects of caution as the deadline for a common European currency approaches in 1999.
In Germany, the top retail market in Europe, merchants are wrapping up a disastrous year. Business is off by about 1.3%
“Christmas sales up to now are disappointing,” said Thomas Werz, spokesman for the Primary Assn. of German Retailers.
The Bank of England played the role of the Grinch this year, with interest rates up by 1.25 points since May as officials try to stop the economy from overheating. The goal was to slow consumer spending. Distressed retailers said it’s working.
“Consumer confidence has been damaged by the interest rate rises,” said Ann Grain, spokeswoman for the British Retail Consortium. “People are not spending much money.”
British merchants were hoping to regain some lost ground during the final run-up to Christmas, like their counterparts in the United States who also got off to a slow start. Some British retailers sought to salvage the season by starting sales early--a tactic they usually employ only in a recession.
Italian consumers were staying cautious, French merchants were reporting mixed results, and Spanish stores were launching sales early to try to drum up more business.
But all was not gloomy.
Dutch retailers said a steady-growth economy would likely hand them a jolly Christmas, after they enjoyed good business on their traditional gift-giving holiday, Sinterklaas, or St. Nicholas’s Eve, on Dec. 5.
“We saw people spending more money on gifts than before, and we think and expect that trend will continue for Christmas,” said Peter van Bakkum at the big Dutch retailer Vendex.
