December 22, 2022 - Compared to December last year, there are as many as 40,000 more daily deliveries. According to Croatian Post, the reasons include the increasing frequency of online shopping and the growing popularity of "Black Friday."

As Poslovni / HRT write, as the number of online shoppers grows from year to year, the volume of work for the Croatian Post also increases. The sorting centre receives up to 100,000 packages per day, so deliveries are often delayed. Almost all sent packages go through the centre in Velika Gorica, and most of them are processed by a machine. Cameras detect the address to which shipments should arrive.

"The machine can sort 15,000 parcels in an hour, from the smallest of 100 g to the largest of 30 kg. The sorting centre works in three shifts. The centre is in operation from 0 to 24, so we manage to deliver everything that comes that day. If we didn't work that way, we wouldn't have enough room for all the parcels," said Krešimir Domjančić, head of the public relations department of Croatian Post.

More packages this December

"We get it all. We have a lot of web shops selling everything from clothes to decorations, lamps, washing machines, televisions, and other things. Not all parcels go through the machine, but all those packed in boxes do," said Irena Majerić, the team leader in the sorting centre.

Compared to December of last year, there are as many as 40,000 more daily deliveries. The reasons include the increasing frequency of online shopping and the growing popularity of "Black Friday."

"The late deliveries make up a small percentage. That is not only a problem for Croatian Post. The entire logistics chain notices difficulties during December due to the increased quantities, so there may be delays both with the supplier itself, with shipping from the store and in Croatian Post," Domjančić told HRT.

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ZAGREB, 17 Dec 2021 - Most Croatians plan to spend up to HRK 500 on Christmas presents, a survey carried out by Ja Trgovac magazine and the Hendal market research agency shows.

The survey, conducted in November on a representative sample of people aged above 16, revealed that 31.6 per cent of respondents would spend up to HRK 500 (€67) on Christmas gifts and 24 per cent up to HRK 200 (€27).

Nearly 21 per cent of those interviewed said they were not planning to buy any Christmas gifts this year, similar to last year when 22 per cent said the same.

This year's survey showed an increase in the number of people who would spend less on Christmas presents than last year, as 36.6 per cent of respondents said they would spend less for that purpose, compared to 33.5% in 2020.

On the other hand, the number of those planning to spend more also increased, from 3.9 per cent last year to 6.2 per cent this year. However, the proportion of the largest group, who say that they will spend the same as the previous year, fell from 62.6 per cent in 2020 to 57.0 per cent in 2021.

Around 59 per cent of respondents plan on buying Christmas gifts online, compared with 55 per cent last year.

The survey also showed that fewer and fewer people found pleasure in Christmas shopping. This year 41 per cent said they enjoyed it, down from 48 per cent last year.

The proportion of people who find Christmas shopping stressful increased to 22 per cent, while 37 per cent said that it gave them both stress and satisfaction.

About 10 per cent of those interviewed said they were planning on going on winter holidays or skiing trips, the same as last year.   

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