"Black Friday" gains importance in Christmas business for the toy market

Swiss households plan to spend around 270 francs on toys this Christmas, the same amount as last year. Promotions around "Black Friday" have an impact on consumers and encourage them to buy toys a month before the festive season. Around 14 percent have benefited from discount campaigns such as "Black Friday".

267 francs: that's how much a Swiss household plans to spend on toys for Christmas in 2017, almost exactly the same as last year. 30 percent of respondents intend to spend more than 200 francs. As expected, consumers spend very different amounts on Christmas gifts depending on their age and income. On average, men (290 francs) spend 20 percent more money on Christmas toy purchases than women (240 percent).

A look at Germans' Christmas budgets, not just for toys, shows a similar picture: at an average of 278 euros, the budget remains at a consistently high level. This is shown by a special survey on Christmas shopping by GfK.

"Black Friday" - growing popularity in the toy market too

Bargains were hunted down again during the "Black Friday" campaign days. Whether stationary or online, Swiss retailers jumped on the trend from the USA. Sales activities increased in 2017, making all discount foxes and bargain hunters in this country rejoice. This also had an impact on the Christmas toy market: 14% of Swiss households bought toys on Black Friday, 4% more than in the previous year. There are differences between the language regions: in French-speaking Switzerland, 19% stated that they had benefited from the "Black Friday" discount campaign, compared to just 12% in German-speaking Switzerland.

Multichanneling is becoming more important

At 63%, more and more respondents are indulging in multichanneling and shopping both online and in-store. Around a third of respondents continue to shop only in bricks-and-mortar stores, while the proportion of those who only shop online has remained stable at 4% for the past three years. However, bricks-and-mortar retail is still very important in the Christmas business, with the online share for toys still less than 10%.

According to forecasts for 2017, general online consumption is on the rise.

Toy purchases are planned for slightly longer than in previous years

For the first time in three years, the proportion of last-minute shoppers, i.e. those who had not yet bought any toys two weeks before the festive season, has fallen. Despite this, 22%, or one in five households, still make last-minute purchases in bricks-and-mortar stores.