Concerns over economy dampen Christmas sales

Uncertainty about the economic outlook and the future of the euro will keep the consumer’s purse-strings closed

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By Peppiina Ahokas
     
      On Sunday afternoon, many shops in downtown Helsinki are empty. Even in the design boutiques of the historic Kiseleff House, shop assistants are spending their time cleaning.
      The cafeteria downstairs is enjoying the largest number of customers, albeit only a handful are in their nursing their coffees.
      Maria Zitting and Toni Lahti are walking in the lobby.
      This year the couple intends to consider very carefully what they will buy for Christmas.
      When selecting their presents, they will focus on quality and personality instead of quantity.
      ”We intend to avoid all impulse purchases”, Zitting says.
      Lahti feels remorse for ”unnecessary knicknacks” she has been buying in recent years.
      ”Perhaps I have bought them as it has been a part of the show. This year I will try to minimise my Christmas purchases”, she says.
     
The Sunday shopping scene seems really quiet.
      This can be partly explained by the early-December rain and the days people have taken off work, thanks to the approaching Independence Day on Tuesday.
      A good many have voted with their feet and gone away for a long weekend somewhere with a bit more light and warmth.
     
On the other hand, it's not just an exodus that has caused the tills to stop whirring.
      Many consumers interviewed by Helsingin Sanomat, including Zitting and Lahti, are worried aboult the recession looming over the world economy and the fate of the euro, the official currency of the eurozone.
      Tiina Nevala’s purchasing enthusiasm has also been curbed by the uncertain future.
      ”I have a house, a loan, and small children. I am naturally worried about the financial situation, maybe even a little scared”, says Nevala, who has dropped by in the Kluuvi shopping mall in order to make some purchases.
      These feelings reflect on consumption in general, but also in the family’s Christmas spending, which Nevala intends to limit, considering carefully what she is going to buy.
      Tommi Kaltio and his children Isabella, 4, and Daniel, 2, are waiting at the indoor playground of the Kämp Galleria shopping mall for mother Marika Kaltio, who is circling the shops and doing some Christmas shopping.
      The family plans to buy as many Christmas gifts as last year. It means about eight Christmas packets for each child, when the gifts given by relatives and godparents are included, estimates Tommi Kaltio.
      The increasingly plausible recession on the horizon has not affected the family’s Christmas purchases.
      ”At least not yet”, Kaltio adds.
      Coming back from her shopping spree, Marika Kaltio is carrying present bags, containing sweaters and some safety reflectors. They will be wrapped in Christmas paper before Christmas, together with a jigsaw puzzle and Legos, which are also on the to-get list.
     
According to an estimate released by the Taxpayers’ Association of Finland last week, the purchasing power of Finnish salary earners is predicted to increase next year.
      Nevertheless, the consumers interviewed by Helsingin Sanomat on Sunday said that the uncertainty of the economic outlook is bothering them.
      Most of them commented that the weak cyclical outlook will have an impact on their purchase decisions during the weeks running up to Christmas.
      This Christmas Laura Räisänen intends to favour intangible presents or self-made gifts.
      ”All places are bursting with so much stuff that one cannot need all that”, Räisänen says.
      Leaning on a bannister-rail at the Kämppi shopping mall, Räisäsen’s friend Jenni Liira says that in her family the children will have the largest number of gifts.
      ”The presents will be bought little by little. Actually, I have not bought anything at all yet”, says Liira.
     
     
Helsingin Sanomat / First published in print 5.12.2011


Previously in HS International Edition:
  Finns increasingly pessimistic about economic prospects (29.11.2011)

See also:
  Taxpayers´ Association says purchasing power set to increase next year (2.12.2011)

Links:
  Taxpayers´ Association of Finland

PEPPIINA AHOKAS / Helsingin Sanomat
peppiina.ahokas@hs.fi