German retailers are satisfied with the start of the Christmas sales season, according to a survey conducted by their HDE industry association.

Following a tepid lead up to the biggest shopping season of the year, demand has improved and many consumers used Saturday to begin purchasing Christmas gifts.

"Sales were above their previous year's level. Customer frequency was also clearly better," HDE managing director Stefan Genth said in a statement on Sunday.

HDE is currently forecasting an increase in Christmas sales of 1.2 percent to 80.6 billion euros.