Trade with Greece
52
2015 revealed the “cold reality” as far as demand
during the winter sales period is concerned.
The year-on-year decrease of turnover in retail
trade is comparable to the drop experienced
between 2010 and 2011 (-17.64%). The average
weighted drop in demand during the 2015 winter
sales, as compared to that of the previous year
(January-February 2014: turnover of €5.37 billion
and a year-on-year drop of -2.37%), stands at -
17.3%, while it should also be mentioned that
turnover for the 2015 winter sales period is esti-
mated to fall to approximately €4.44 billion,
reduced by €930 billion.
More specifically, according to a survey by
INEMY, the vast majority of respondents (70%)
stated that sales were reduced year-on-year,
while two out of ten (22%) said that sales were
level, and hardly one in ten (8%) said that they
were slightly improved.
Responses vary in regard to the scope of this
drop in demand, as 23% of respondents referred
to a 11-20% reduction, a further 23% spoke of
sales reduced by 21-30% and only 10% pointed
to a 0-10% drop. One in five respondents (20%)
pointed to a 30-40% decrease in sales, and
almost one in four (23%) reported a turnover
decrease of more than 40%.
It is worth noting that discount rates were rather
high, as has been the case in the past few years,
since the vast majority of merchants made very
generous offers, with discounts that started from
30% and in most cases exceeded 50%, while in
some cases even reached 80%. It is telling that
more than 5 out of 10 merchants (55%) indicated
the period 12/1-31/1 as the best of the winter
sales period, despite the fact that the elections
were held during exactly that period. Similarly, 3
out of 10 respondents stated that the most prof-
itable period was that from 1/2 to 15/2, while less
than 2 out of 10 (15%) indicated the period from
16/2 to 28/2, a fact that demonstrates the
decreasing demand faced by commercial outlets
during the second half of February.
More specifically, during the winter sales period,
most businesses (46%) offered discounts of 20%
to 40%, while only one in three offered discounts
of more than 40%, and a very few businesses
offered exceptionally high discounts of up to 80%.
According to data from the same survey, dis-
counts are clearly differentiated depending on the
sector the business belongs to. Household equip-
ment stores, as well as businesses selling enter-
tainment and edification items, offered discounts
lower than those offered by apparel-footwear
businesses.
In terms of turnover, the 2015 winter sales period
was worse than that of the previous year.
More specifically, seven out of ten businesses
saw their turnover decrease in 2015 on a year-on-
year basis, almost one in four reported more or
less the same turnover, and only one in ten regis-
tered an increase.
The sector that suffered the greatest pressure is
apparel-footwear, where 76.5% of the businesses
reported a year-on-year drop in turnover.
Moreover, eight out of ten businesses with a
turnover of more than 30,000 in 2014, reported
reduced turnover for the winter sales period of
2015, as compared to the same period of the pre-
vious year.
In regard to the extent of the year-on-year drop in
turnover, one out of four respondents lost more
than 40% of its turnover, one out of five lost 31-
40%, one out of four lost 21-30% and 11-20%,
