German retailers are suffering from the start of Christmas at a crucial time for Reuters

BERLIN (Reuters) – The rise in coronavirus cases in Germany has led to a disappointing start to the Christmas season for traders in Europe’s largest economy, the sector’s organization said on Sunday.

According to a survey by the HDE retail association, only 20% of the 350 companies surveyed were happy with Christmas sales so far. November and December are usually the strongest months of the year for traders

“The retail sector managed to challenge increasingly difficult conditions, including higher inflation, rising infection rates and supply necks by November,” said HDE Managing Director Stefan Genth.

“However, the devastating effects of the worsening of the coronavirus crisis have hit retail in the last week,” he added.

In-store controls, such as vaccine certificate checks, were being pushed back by customers, Ghent said, adding that he wanted fewer reductions in stores because of the fact that masks and air filters were effective.

Earlier this month, HDE said it expected Christmas sales to rise 2% from last year to 111.7 billion euros.

Germany is battling a fourth wave of coronavirus on Sunday with 44,401 new cases registered, according to the Robert Koch Institute for Infectious Diseases.

Two cases of the Omicron variant in southern Germany have been confirmed and more than 100,000 people have been killed with COVID-19 since the German pandemic began.