Retail

The implementation of the recent decision of the Regional Authority of Attica to ban trucks over 2 tons from 9 a.m. until 9 p.m. is estimated to signify an additional burden of 5 million euros per year for the supermarkets located within the limits of the Municipality of Athens.

Successful applicants to the government's platform to support households in buying groceries will see the first credits arrive on their so-called "market pass" cards by March 3, government spokesman Giannis Oikonomou has said.

Turkey's unusual request that its retailers partially freeze prices ahead of elections has prompted some supermarkets and industry groups to warn they could only do so for a short period.

Finance Minister Nureddin Nebati asked clothing and shoe stores to launch their discount season well ahead of usual March after grocers had done the same.

While household consumption expenditures were affected by the increase in prices, one of the solutions that citizens resorted to was to use discount markets more, with their share in households' grocery expenditures increasing more than 3 percent in 2022, according to a survey conducted by Ipsos.

The Development Ministry is seeking a formula for the inclusion of more branded products in the Household Basket in an attempt to satisfy the food industry, which has formulated the relevant request, while rendering the Basket more attractive to the average consumer.

More businesses have decided to join large supermarket chains in freezing prices as consumer inflation started to show signs of slipping last month with officials expecting a downward trend in inflation to continue in the coming months.

Uncertainty in the market led to one in three retailers running promotions or discounts even over the festive period, but more than one in four businesses had higher sales this holiday season, compared with the same period in 2021, according to a study by the Hellenic Confederation of Commerce and Entrepreneurship (ESEE), which was released on Friday, regarding the activity of commercial stores

Migros, one of the largest supermarkets with nearly 3,000 outlets across Türkiye, has joined a hard discount retailer in freezing prices on stable products.

In the UK, food inflation hit a record high of 13.3% in December.

Food prices hit a record high in December ahead of Christmas, new data shows.

Food inflation jumped from 12.4% in November to 13.3% in December at a time when families typically stock up on food for the Christmas and New Year holidays.

Alamy Photo

Şok, one of Türkiye's largest hard discount retailers, will freeze prices on 1,000 items, including staple products such as rice, flour, vegetable oil, sugar and tear, until the end of January.

If other supermarkets follow suit, such a move is likely to have a positive impact on the inflation outlook, according to a consumers' association.