The Germans have a different consumption mentality: They don't get into debt.

For a long time, the Germans held the deutsche mark as a proof of normality, something that held them together.

The World Cup motto is 'A Time to Make Friends,' and friends should be offered friendly opening times. We want to campaign for shopping in Germany so the more than 1 million visitors in Germany for the World Cup come back to go shopping.

Everything depends on this week and whether people will come to the shops in droves to spend the money they have been given as presents.

We now expect that on balance things could improve slightly in 2006.