Retail

Tourism is breathing new life into Athens's beleaguered commercial triangle - the area encompassed by Syntagma, Omonia and Monastiraki squares - as the share of shuttered shops has dropped below 25 percent for the first time since September 2012, when the Hellenic Confederation of Commerce and Entrepreneurship (ESSE) started the relevant survey.

Jumbo, Greece's biggest listed specialty retailer, posted on Monday an 11 percent rise in net profit for the six months to December last year thanks to fast growing sales in Romania and Bulgaria.

The turnover of retail trade (except for the trade in vehicles and motorcycles) dropped in January 2018 compared to the previous month, both as gross series, by 25.3 percent, and as series adjusted by the number of working days and seasonality by 0.9 percent, according to data from the National Institute of Statistics (INS), released on Monday.

All cash registers in our retail outlets must be replaced by December 31, 2018 due to software breakthroughs that take into account sales. This is what the Parliament has decided by finally adopting the amendments to the Customs Act.

China’s tech giants Alibaba Group Holding Ltd and Tencent Holdings Ltd, worth a combined $1 trillion, are on a retail investment binge, forcing merchants to choose sides amid a battle for shoppers’ digital wallets.

Just a month in, an initiative aimed at reducing consumers' dependence on plastic carrier bags by charging for them appears to be bearing fruit, as some supermarkets have recorded a drop of as much as 50 percent.

The winter sales began Monday, with thousands of shoppers taking to Ermou Street, central Athens's main commercial strip, in search of bargains. The sales run through February 28. Retailers are obliged by law to display items' presale prices alongside their sale prices. The Hellenic Confederation of Commerce and Entrepreneurship (ESEE) warned of fines for those who do not do so. [ANA-MPA]

Retailers appear to have relatively high expectations for the winter sales, which start on Monday, January 8, and will last for more than seven weeks through February 28. The optimism stems from the rather positive picture of the festive period.

The Bulgarian Food Safety Agency starts today intensified checks for the Christmas and New Year holidays, according to bTV. 

Food and beverage enterprises, wholesale warehouses, catering establishments, retail outlets, and supermarkets, will be inspected.

Inspectors will monitor the origin, expiry date, storage conditions and proper food labeling.

U.S. internet giant Amazon launched in Australia on Dec. 5 in time for Christmas, with retailers scrambling to cut costs and boost their online offerings as they brace for an expected shake-up of the sector.