The current IHaM analysis shows an amazing a posteriori crisis resistance of Christmas spending in recent years, although the various crises have also had different effects on gift purchases - from the online boom of the coronavirus years to price-induced increases in spending in the inflation year 2022.

The surprising crisis resistance of Christmas spending will continue to some extent this year. On the one hand, Austrians are planning to buy slightly fewer gifts this year, but on the other hand, they are planning to spend more due to price increases.

30% of Austrians (aged 16-74) have already started shopping for presents and, despite almost two years of inflationary crisis, Austrians are showing themselves to be generous overall this year too. The current IHaM forecast assumes an increase in spending to around € 2.32 billion.

Spending in offline retail will increase to around € 1.89 billion, while spending in online retail will stabilise at the previous year's level of around € 430 million.