Off the wire
• Hungary's first post-communist president laid to rest  • Urgent: Obama rejects controversial Keystone XL pipeline project  • British defense secretary discusses Sinai air crash with Egyptian president  • U.S. stocks trade mixed on strong jobs report  • 2nd LD Writethru: China, Singapore agree to lift ties, upgrade FTA  • Lithuania to place U.S. military equipment for exercises  • Only 2 British flights leave Egypt amid anger of stranded tourists  • Roundup: Another violent day kills 2 Palestinians, wound 4 Israelis  • Roundup: Xi wraps up Vietnam visit after harvesting fruitful outcomes  • UN official condemns kidnapping of albinos in Mozambique  
You are here: 　 Home

Spain's stores predict big sales for Christmas

Xinhua, November 7, 2015 Adjust font size:

Spain's stores predict big sales for Christmas thanks to more optimistic perspectives about consumption, the economic newspaper Expansion reported on Friday.

After suffering drops in sales due to the economic recession in Spain, this year sales have recovered more than expected and stores predict increases in sales for the Christmas period that could amount to a total of 3.5 billion euros (3.8 billion U.S. dollars), 20 percent more than a year earlier.

Christmas sales represent between 20 and 50 percent of these companies annual turnover and it is expected this year sales will increase between 5 and 7 percent when compared with a year earlier.

Companies such as Carrefour, Alcampo, Fnac, Cortefiel, Toys R'Us, Mango or Desigual are planning to take on more than 12,000 workers to face demand during Christmas. On the other hand, El Corte Ingles has announced that a credit line of 1 billion euros would be available to finance the purchases.

"Consumption is increasing more than we could have expected a year ago," Javier Campo, president of Aecoc (which gathers a large number of manufacturers and distributors) told the newspaper.

The rise in sales will be especially important in online stores that predicted a 20 percent increase, which would mean a turnover of 3.5 billion euros according to Adigital, the employers' organization of the sector.

Amazon, for example, will hire around 600 people more. In San Fernando de Henares in Madrid there will be working more than 1,400 people in Amazon, 75 percent more when compared with a year earlier.

Christmas campaign in the sector starts with the Black Friday, an American tradition that Spanish stores are increasingly embracing. (1 euro = 1.08 US dollars) Endit