Retailers make 19 per cent of their annual sales during the months of November and December, the report said.

Some areas of retail depend even more heavily on the festive season, with toy sellers making 26 per cent of sales and book shops registering 24 per cent of sales during that time.

More people in Germany tend make charitable donations in the run-up to Christmas and the end of the tax year too, the report said: 20 per cent of all donations are made in December.

With wages increasing, most people in Germany have more money to spend, as prices have only risen by a small amount.

The statistical office said that on average, prices for goods and services had only increased by 1.1 per cent during November 2019 compared to the year before.

Some consumer goods, such as razors or coffee machines, cost less than they did last Christmas, whereas books are more expensive, test purchases found.

The German wood industry said that Germans bought almost the same number of Christmas trees this year as they did one year ago. In all, 29.8 million German trees were sold.

Last year, Germany imported 2.6 million Christmas trees, and 17,720 tons of decorations.

Of the ornaments, 72 per cent were made in China.