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“No one will win in 2020,” hopes Dieter Scharitzer, assistant professor at the Vienna University of Economics and Business. Because now 37 percent of people have less money available than the previous year and many purchases are made on the Internet.
Discounts can motivate
“Christmas will be different this year,” Scharitzer concludes from a survey conducted by his institute TQS Research & Consulting among 1,000 Austrian adults, which was carried out on November 16, just before closing. If the trade gives massive discounts, then Austrians may still be motivated to buy, “but I think it will be worse overall” than last year, according to Scharitzer.
Corona boosts online business
This also has to do with the shift to online shopping. 11 percent of Austrians have bought a lot more and 37 percent a little more online since the corona pandemic, 45 percent the same amount. 61 percent spend less money overall and 53 percent want to buy fewer gifts.
Pessimism when looking at the economy
Pessimism in one’s buying behavior also seems to be spreading in relation to the economy in general. While in an April poll, 56 percent assumed the economy would recover in the near future, it was now just 46 percent before the second lockdown.
Most supported measures
Support remains for measures against the coronavirus. Almost unchanged since the beginning of October, three out of four Austrians rate the measures taken by the government in the fight against the pandemic as very or somewhat sensible and 90 percent intend to adhere to them. Currently, this is not good news for the economy.
(Those: APA)
