Today (though it is a holiday) marks the unofficial start of the shopping season as the run-up to the traditional festivities of this time of the year enters into full swing. Republic day has for long been regarded as the preferred day by shoppers with earnest determination to start striking presents off their lists. Shops, meanwhile, gear up for today, and the next few days up till Christmas Eve, as these are considered as very important days which make up for a sluggish period and hopefully to end the year in a better financial position.

Given the importance of the shopping season, two surveys published last week provide a good insight to the perception of retailers. On a national level, a survey carried out by the GRTU shows that a in the short-term, retailers have less confidence in the market with only 45 per cent of respondents expecting Christmas sales to be the same as last year. Around 36 per cent expect lower sales volumes while only 19 per cent anticipate an increase in sales in the next two weeks.

These results provide a significant insight to the mood of the nation which is somewhat reluctant to spend despite the traditional Christmas cheer. There is still the possibility that the current sentiment can be overturned in the final days before and up to the 24 December as the festive mood prevails and inhibitions are forgotten.

However, a positive economic sentiment has many factors working against it this year with the increased energy rates and randomly issued bills identified as the main worrying factor that could dampen the traditional sales period. Other equally important factors are also thought to be worrying people and these include the eco-tax disadvantage, lower disposable incomes, unfair competition, a parking problem in several localities and people’s increasing preference to purchase goods over the internet. All these factors together can potentially combine to work against retailers’ best shopping period and nothing much can be done to alleviate the situation. These are all factors which have accumulated over a period of time and only a general improvement in the global economy can work to diffuse these elements.

Perhaps, an improvement is not that far away after all according to another survey also published this week. According to another survey conducted by Eurochambres, which represents the 27 chambers of commerce across the EU, and in which 202 Maltese small-and medium-sized companies participated, local businesses expressed their confidence that the economic crisis will soon be over and next year will be a positive year.

These findings of the Eurochambres survey contrast sharply with the short-term indicators provided by retailers but this could also serve to buoy the current low-key expectations.