Without any solution of continuity with summer and with the “Operation Food Pantry after the holidayssupermarkets now offer Christmas products, a campaign that lasts three months and which in September alone allowed more than 3 million euros of nougats and peas to be left in supermarkets.
Spending on Christmas products in September, according to data from consultancy Circana, If we add sparkling wine par excellence like cava, this amounts to 15 million, which is 24% more than in August, but 50.8% less than what it sold in these categories in October 2023.
It’s a month that also saw sales increases Compared to the same period of the previous year, 5.4% in nougat, 16.1% in mantecados and 15.7% in cavawhich indicates that demand responds to the progress of supply.
The campaign starts a year earlier
From the association of supermarkets Asedas – which brings together companies such as Mercadona, Aldi, DIA, Lidl and other regional brands – explain to EFE that the Christmas campaign in supermarkets starts a year earlier with the study of data of sales.
This analysis focuses on purchasing times, most requested products and new consumer trends and all this is transferred to suppliers.
They also consider that the availability of Christmas products in supermarkets since the beginning of October is a “societal trend”“, which also occurs on Halloween and Valentine’s Day.
And they mention other causes, such as logistics, because implementing the campaign earlier means facilitating the operation of the stores and the rest of the areas involved, such as the platforms, given the large volume of products registered on these dates.
Each supermarket has 300 Christmas references
It is estimated that an average supermarket can offer around 300 Christmas product references, a fact also confirmed by companies like Grupo DIA.
“In a complex economic context, anticipating Christmas shopping has become a strategy savings by making it possible to distribute the effort that these celebrations represent for the household budget”, they underline.
At Grupo DIA, the process of selecting products for the Christmas campaign and researching new products begins almost a year before, in order to develop new ideas and references based on sales data and “feedback” from customers on products from the previous campaign.
On the other hand, the general director of Facua, Rubén Sánchez, explained to EFE that for customers there is “zero profit” from this advance in the offer of Christmas products “which, in theory, are only consumed in mid or late December”.
As for whether it can be a savings strategy, for Sánchez “it can happen” if you choose to buy and freeze foods whose price tends to increase a lot in the preceding days – meat, seafood, fish.
According to him, putting on sale or showcasing processed products, such as shortbread, nougat or chocolate, only serves to “encourage people to consume earlier” and to cause a “significant increase in expenses” for families. .
20% more staff in the last quarter
The director of the employment portal trabajos.com, Nekane Cendoya, gives another point of view on this campaign which also begins now: hiring to cover the peak demand.
“Companies plan to increase their workforce by 20% in the last quarter, particularly department stores and supermarket chains and in areas such as food, logistics and sales,” he emphasizes.
They won’t get rid of it.”certain difficulties” when it comes to filling temporary positions, a condition which limits the availability of candidates, he warns.
The greatest difficulties relate to the search for specialized personnel: bakers, butchers and everything related to fresh produce; In logistics and distribution, “it is not easy to hire qualified personnel such as warehouse workers, delivery people or forklift drivers,” he admits.
The figures confirm that Christmas and consumption go hand in hand and, with such a defined end date, the strategy to eliminate it is to extend the campaign until it begins.
