We will definitely not escape it. The coronavirus and the successive confinements sometimes even influence our ideas for Christmas gifts in Loire-Atlantique and Vendée. Sales of computer equipment like tablets, cameras for videoconferencing or even household appliances for cooking are leaving much faster than last year at the same time.
Gifts to stay at home
“For my mother this year I’m going to buy a blanket to stay warm at home and for my father some charentaises”, says Camille. “So if there is a third wave it will be settled”, she adds. Puzzles are also on the rise says Caroline: “This year we are very much on gifts to occupy at home. We stepped up on the puzzles. I even found one with marked” I was bored “. It is appropriate.”she laughs.
Big success for board games
Christmas is usually a very busy time for board game stores, but this year the trend is on the rise, especially for certain products. “I have noted a lot of requests for two-person games for young people who find themselves confined to their homes as a couple or in a shared apartment, but also for games that can be played easily over video”, explains Jonathan Monsifrot, who works at the Temple du jeu in Nantes.
Digital tablets under the tree
But where confinements have had the clearest effects on our Christmas gift ideas is in the digital realm. The Darty and Boulanger stores sell three to four times more tablets than last year at the same time. “Among our customers we have in particular people who offer tablets for Christmas to their elderly parents, who have found themselves confined twice without being able to make video”, explains Sébastien Goascov, the manager of the multimedia department of the Boulanger Nantes Atlantis store.
“During the two confinements, people spent a lot less money than usual and are looking to have fun. We see a very strong increase in sales of TVs at the end of the year and in particular large sizes, everything which is 65 see 75 inches “, notes Olivier Samuel, the manager of the Darty store in Orvault. “These are gifts people give to themselves”, he adds.
But this increase in sales concerns many other departments of the store, for example raclette machines. It’s still a classic Christmas gift, but this year sales have tripled or even quadrupled compared to last year at the same time.
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