Christmas sales down 1% this year

The Christmas season sales in Brazilian shopping malls (Dec. 1st until Dec. 24) dropped 1% (adjusted for inflation) compared to the same period in 2014. This has been the sharpest decline recorded in the past 10 years. The survey, released Saturday (Dec. 26) by the Brazilian Association of Shopping Mall Shop Owners (ALSHOP), reported the change in sales for the period compared to 2014, but the exact sales figures have not been disclosed.

According to ALSHOP, the sales drop reflected a combination of conditions—tighter credit availability associated with interest hikes; the dollar hike, which led to overall higher prices across different industries; higher unemployment; higher inflation; and uncertainties around the government's economic policy.

Conversely, shopping mall sales reported for the year 2015 exceeded 2014 by 1.7%, totaling $36.6 billion from $36.3 billion last year.

“Based on the existing information we have, we expect sales in the first half of 2016 to be at about the same level as in the first half of 2015, which can be considered a good result,” said ALSHOP's head of Institutional Relations, Luís Augusto Ildefonso da Silva.

Translated by Mayra Borges