Supermarkets seek ways to stem turnover fall

Sales at supermarkets remained in negative territory after the first five months of the year, with turnover shrinking by between 5 and 6 percent, according to sector estimates.

The continued drop is expected to trigger a further concentration of the industry, at least for the next three years, through the bankruptcy or sale of small and medium-sized chains, or the closure of some branches.

"In previous years the sector was obsessed with the number of branches, believing that turnover would grow via a very large network, which proved to be the wrong policy," said the head of Metro, which operates MyMarket and Metro Cash & Carry, Aristotelis Panteliadis on Wednesday.

He went on to note that at the moment the least efficient model is that of the hypermarket - very large supermarkets covering an area of more than 2,500 square meters that offer a wide variety of...