Greeks began to buy less food

Inflation and rising prices have become part of the everyday life of Greek citizens. Households are trying to survive on their meager wages, but even basic food has become unaffordable. So in order to make ends meet, people are trying to cut not only the quantity, but also to cut back on staple foods, keeping their consumption to a minimum.

According to research firm IRI, the turnover of convenience goods in supermarkets increased by 6.9% compared to January last year, with growth associated with markupsreaching almost 10%, rather than increasing demand. In particular, sales in January 2023 amounted to 652 million euros compared to 610 million euros in January 2022. In the same period, the value of sales increased by 7% compared to the corresponding month of the previous year, with a decrease in sales of 2. 5%. It is noted that the fall in volumes in January was “restrained” by the fact that in the same month of 2022 we had heavy snowfalls, which led (due to objective conditions) to a reduction in purchases by several days.

Products under its own (supermarket chain store) trademark continue to develop dynamically. In particular, the share of PL in January amounted to 17.7%, while this particular category of “running” ones accounted for 21.3%. Notably, the PL product category closed in 2022 with a growth rate of 16.4%. Accordingly, stocks for all food products rose by 24.1%, for personal care and beauty products – by 29.1%, for detergents and cleaning products – by 22.3%. For the top three FMCG categories (excluding Lidl), IRI data shows that sales of packaged foods increased by 5.7% in January, personal care and beauty products by 12.3%, and detergents and cleaning products by 5.7%. by 11.9%. However, packaged food sales declined 2.9%, personal care and beauty products fell 1.2%, and detergents and cleaners fell 2.3%.

Of the 11 main product categories increase in sales recorded in four categories: soft drinks (2.4%), alcoholic beverages (1.9%), personal care and beauty products (1.2%) and personal care products (1.3%). Vice versa, decline in sales was noted for packaged food (3.2%), chips, etc. (0.3%), dairy products (6.7%), frozen food (8.2%), household cleaning products (1.3% ) and other household goods (3.2%).

The figures for January also show that consumers have more confidence in large supermarkets (more than 2.5 thousand square meters). These stores recorded the largest increase in turnover in the first month of the year (11%), and their total share in the turnover of supermarkets is 15.1%. In very small stores (up to 400 sq.m.), a 10.5% increase in turnover was recorded, with their share being 13.9%. Turnover in medium-sized stores (from 400 to 1000 m2) increased by 6.4%, and their share in total sales reached 33.4%. An increase of 5% was recorded in large stores (from 1000 to 2500 sq.m), which accounted for 37.6% of the total turnover.

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