Number and turnover of retail SMEs on the wane

The turnover of small and medium-sized retail companies in Greece has been shrinking at an annual rate of 5 percent since 2013, while the number of shutdowns in the period from 2008 to 2013 reached 30,000. This translates into a 16 percent total reduction in shops, climbing to 28 percent in Attica, a National Bank of Greece report on retail sector SMEs showed on Wednesday.

Although the strong consumption model before the crisis concealed the weaknesses of the market, the data show a persistent low capacity of added value for Greek SMEs in comparison with other European Union countries. Their low pace of adjustment and their dependence on a small number of suppliers are two of the sector's typical structural problems that have existed since before the crisis.

This a particularly fragmented sector, mainly consisting of small and to a great extent family-run enterprises,...