According to Vassilis Korkidis, president of the Council of Regional Chambers of Attica, the Easter turnover is another “lucky moment” for the Attica market.
The holiday period of Easter can be short, but with sufficient intensity, as the consumer will buy the necessary things to spend the holidays. Society needs to “improve the mood”, and commerce needs a cheerful consumer to overcome the consequences of the crisis. In this battle, the state and business are fighting together to ensure that shopping is not hindered by inflation, especially in the food sector.
As studies show, consumers have clearly changed their habits and are buying fewer products while being pushed towards cheaper options. They switched to private label products (with a supermarket label), the share of which reached a new record for the last 12 months – 17.7% (which is similar to the crisis period of 2012).
The addition of Godfather and Easter baskets, coupled with emergency retirement benefits and a minimum wage increase, is boosting household purchasing power and the positivity that the market needs.
The Easter Gift (δώρο του Πάσχα) this year, in the amount of 1 billion euros, must be paid to private sector workers before Holy Wednesday, April 12, 2023. But this does not mean that it cannot be transferred to bank accounts a little earlier.
And the festive market is usually “warmed up” by the amount issued to citizens, after which the “compressed in time” search for suitable purchases for Easter days begins. However, the market is expected to absorb most of the Easter gift, which will overcome the usual sluggish movement of recent years and exceed last year’s Easter turnover of 1.5 billion euros.
An increase in the amount of food that makes up the traditional Easter table will almost certainly limit consumption in many other retail sectors. The purchase of seasonal gifts such as toys, candles, chocolate, children’s clothes and shoes, which make up the bulk of Easter spending, is likely to be reduced.
At the same time, a “slowdown” in sales volume is observed in supermarkets, in contrast to the turnover. However, the central and regional markets of Attica, despite the many difficulties, rising prices and electricity costs that all businesses have suffered, guarantee the absolute sufficiency of all Easter items and foodstuffs for consumers, whether they go to the village for Easter or stay in the city.
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