Post-Christmas retail trade ‘booming’ The custom of returns after Christmas in Bonn

Many people visit the city centre after Christmas – also to return their presents. But the retail trade notes that the time of huge exchange orgies seems to be over.

 More purchasing, less returns: The day after the Christmas holidays traditionally draws many customers to the shops.

More purchasing, less returns: The day after the Christmas holidays traditionally draws many customers to the shops.

Foto: Benjamin Westhoff

“Do you have one cent?” “Yes sure, no problem.” “Then here are your forty euros back – thank you and Happy New Year.” Anyone like Karsten Schrader, who came to Bonn city centre on Friday morning to exchange an unsuitable or unwanted present, could count on a quick transaction almost everywhere. Even the young man, who received a wallet for Christmas from his grandmother which was unfortunately not to his taste, was able to leave the department store within a few minutes.

On the one hand, of course, this is because the retail trade is well prepared for this situation: on the first few shopping days after Christmas, many people are still on holiday and the time is traditionally used for returning presents. On the other hand, it also seems that major exchange orgies after Christmas are finally a thing of the past: "Customers buy more sensibly, they buy more specifically or they give vouchers as presents," says Erich Beyersdorff, Managing Director of Sinn, summarising the change in behaviour from his point of view.

Nevertheless, even in the Bonn fashion store, dozens of returned jumpers, shirts or coats are already piling up in the area behind the central cash desk on the ground floor shortly after eleven in the morning. As December is the month with the highest turnover in the year, more items are returned after the holidays than in the rest of the year, says Beyersdorff. However, this is only true in absolute figures; in relation to turnover there are no particular observations to be made in returning habits.

Nevertheless, Astrid Huber and her son Andreas have to wait a few minutes before it's their turn. "I would like to exchange my Christmas present," says the son, while the two wait patiently in the queue. "The coat is great, but unfortunately it didn't quite fit," says the 21-year-old nanotechnology student. Because the bigger size was no longer in stock, he had to go for a different style. Here, too, the exchange went off without a hitch - the dark blue coat was exchanged for the newly selected piece in no time at all. But the happily surprised faces of the two are not routine for the sales staff either: because the new coat was now significantly cheaper thanks to the sales discounts and despite originally being almost the same price, the two were able to enjoy a 74 euro refund: "This is now being invested in new socks," the young man says with a laugh.

On the other hand, many owner-managed specialty stores have little or no need to deal with exchanges: At the Ludus toy store in Friedrichstraße, for example, nothing had been returned at all by midday. The story is the same a few metres down towards the Rhine: The "Sündikat" on the other end of Friedrichstrasse has been selling high-quality kitchen equipment for a good year now and for Managing Director Gerd Raffelberg the subject of exchanging gifts is of no importance, even on the first opening day after Christmas: "Our customers mainly give presents to themselves," he says. But even those who want to give someone a treat - especially with higher-priced products as are sold here - think very carefully beforehand about whether the present is the right thing for the receiver. Dorothea Amort-Bloch sees an almost opposite trend in her shop: Directly after the holidays, her customers usually come to browse in peace and quiet and get themselves or others a belated Christmas present. "The few who want to give something back usually don't do so until the beginning of the new year," says the owner of the jewellery and fashion shop "Zessibong".

(Original text: Leif Kubik, Translation: Caroline Kusch)

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