Saint Nicholas was generous to the stores of Bucharest

In the month of December, nothing is greater than people's appetite for shopping. This is proven by concrete figures. While the crisis is still present, but there is also the pleasure of giving and receiving gifts, which doesn't take into account any economic indicator.

This month, sales of consumer goods have seen a significant increase, ever since last week-end, officials of some of the companies said. The earnings were first and foremost caused by the celebration of Saint Nicholas, but this is only the beginning. The race taking place across the stores is in full swing, and two more important milestones have yet to be reached: Christmas and New Year's Eve.

• Flanco: "Sales up by about 45% over a regular weekend"

In the December 3rd - December 4th weekend, "Flanco" had sales of over 5 million lei, up 45% over a regular weekend, said Violeta Luca, Marketing Director at Flanco. She went on to say: "In the weekend before the holiday of Saint Nicholas, the best sellers were photographic cameras, small home appliances, notebooks and their accessories. The positive evolution of the sales was influenced not only by the holiday of Saint Nicholas, but also by the campaigns currently running in the stores, like the one of by which customers get back their VAT. Also this weekend, we have launched the series of Christmas events in stores, which include live demos of products, meetings with Santa Claus, etc".

As to what concerns the budget of the customers allocated for such purchases, under the current economic crisis, Mrs. Violeta Luca said: "There is still a low appetite for consumption when it comes to the acquisitions of electrical and IT products, caused by wariness, but with clever marketing campaigns, which provide customers with reasons to make such purchases now, instead of putting them off indefinitely, we can significantly influence demand".

Mrs. Violeta Luca provided the example of the Black Friday campaign in November, launched by Flanco for the first time in Romania, together with eMAG. He said: "In spite of the retailers' doubts that such a business model could be imported in Romania as well, the campaign was successful, leading to record sales for our stores as well as for the eMAG website. In our case, we had sales of over 30 million lei, which represents the equivalent of a regular month, a traffic of 200,000 visitors, and over 60,000 customers, in the three days of the Black Friday event. Such campaigns are causing the market return to an upward trend, and the rekindling of consumption has positive effects on the entire economy, representing one of the most important engines of economic growth".

• Luxury stores changed their schedule in December

Two of Bucharest's luxury brands, "Emporio Armani" and "Frey Wille" have decided to make Sunday a working day all throughout December.

Andreea Matei, Shop and Marketing Manager at "Frey Wille", said that last weekend's sales were unexpectedly good: "The crisis is being felt less when it comes to presents. Last weekend, the favorites were silk scarves and unique items, in other words purchases worth less than the average recorded over the year, but the number of customers was far greater than on a regular day".

The representative of Frey Wille added: "December is the best month when it comes to the jewelry segment, and because of that expectations are rather high, especially for the December 19th-December 24th period".

In the first half of the year, "Frey Wille" had a growth of 30%, a trend which has remained steady over the next months.

And for the "Emporio Armani" store in Bucharest, last week-end was very good in terms of sales, due to the great weather and the fact that many people stayed in Bucharest, said Karina Staron, Brand Manager "Emporio Armani". She went on to say that December is the best month of the year, as the brand covers both the women's /men's, sportswear, underwear, as Armani Jeans is very adaptable for all kinds of presents.

Mrs. Karina Staron said that the effects of the current economic crisis are still being felt, but to a far lesser extent on the luxury segment than in other retail areas.

In November, the "Emporio Armani" store in Bucharest celebrated its first year of existence.