Marketing strategy

Digitally upgrading an enterprise can fetch up to 20% more sales compared to its rivals that have not created an online store or made other such moves toward an electronic transformation, according to a report by the Hellenic Federation of Enterprises (SEV).

The Health Ministry has announced a series of measures to be taken in 11 sectors in an effort to curb the spread of the coronavirus as Turkey has already rolled out its normalization plan.

The new measures are mostly directed at retail stores, such as white goods shops, supermarkets, gas stations, and real estate agencies.

As the food service sector reopened for business this week following over two months with its shutters down, a consumer survey found that two-thirds of consumers do not intend to visit any restaurants this year, while almost a third of Greeks will not be going on holiday this year.

One in four stores in Athens recorded a decline in turnover of more than 50% in the first week after the lockdown compared to the same week last year, while a total of 82.8% of stores reported worse turnover compared to a year earlier, according to a survey of 204 stores by the Athens Traders Association, most of which are in the center of Athens.

In the 10 weeks up to May 3 - i.e. from the time the first coronavirus cases were announced in Greece up to just before the end of the lockdown - turnover at supermarkets in Greece reached a remarkable 1.5 billion euros.

The companies in non-food retail request that the owners of commercial centers agree to new deals by which there would be zero rent during the coronavirus pandemic, threatening that, if otherwise, they will boycott the reopening of stores. "It's a desperate plea, because we are in a desperate situation.

The reopening of most retail stores on Monday after around 50 days of forced closure met with great interest on the part of the public, with many people window shopping while queues were a common sight outside the branches of major retail chains.

Greece has entered the second phase in lifting its lockdown, with all remaining retail stores that had been shut down in March allowed to reopen and the final grade of high school resuming classes.

Deputy Development and Investments Minister Nikos Papathanassis on Friday announced a second wave of loosened restrictions in business activity as of May 11, that includes stores selling clothing, home appliances and cosmetics.

The volume of turnover for retail trade (excluding trade in motor vehicles and motorcycles) increased in the first three months of this year, compared to the same period last year, both as gross series and as series adjusted to the number of working days and seasonality by 9.4pct and 7.5pct, respectively, informs the National Institute of Statistics (INS).