Behind the scenes

Santa carries Paw Patrol, Lego and AirPods

1/12/2021

The search behaviour of digitec and Galaxus customers is usually a good indicator of what’s going under Christmas trees this year. But this year, there’s a catch, as quite a few Playstation 5, Xbox Series X, and RTX-3080 graphics cards aren’t available. So what’s popular this year? Lego, Playmobil, iPhones, AirPods as well as Pokémon and Paw Patrol merchandise.

Christmas is still a few weeks away. But Digitec Galaxus already knows what will appear under Christmas trees in Europe. How come? The search behaviour of the online retailer's customers in the two weeks from 12 to 25 November reveals this secret.

It shows that game consoles are in particularly high demand this year, first and foremost Sony’s Playstation 5, followed by Microsoft’s Xbox Series X. However, demand significantly exceeds supply for both. As soon as digitec and Galaxus get new deliveries of these items, they’re sold out within hours. So instead of the console itself, many people will probably get gift vouchers for Christmas. The Nintendo Switch, on the other hand, is available. It’s ranked 7th in the search behaviour at Galaxus in French-speaking Switzerland, 8th in German-speaking Switzerland and 9th in Germany (see below). And there are also many alternatives for gaming monitors, should the model of your choice be out of stock.

No construction job is too big, no pup too small

Lego and Lego Technic are also in the high ranks of Christmas wish lists in Switzerland and Germany. The bad news? Many Lego construction sets are sold out. For years, Lego, Lego Technic and Playmobil have been among the most popular products just before Christmas. This year, toys licensed by the TV or streaming series Pokémon and Paw Patrol as well as Tonies audio boxes are also likely to make eyes light up.

Apple products are also among the most sought-after Christmas presents, especially the new iPhone 13 as well as AirPods and AirPods Pro. Santa is surely going to carry thousands of iPads this year, too.

Meanwhile, an exotic item appears in the Galaxus top 10 list in Germany: Emsa storage containers, lunch boxes and thermos flasks are in third place. This is probably because the Christmas biscuit baking and mulled wine season got going in the days observed.

What do you want for Christmas? What gift are you giving to your loved ones? And what products would you have liked to gift but couldn’t due to the international logistics and production bottlenecks? Thanks for letting us know in the comments!