Four reasons retail sales suffer
The wave of price hikes in basic goods, the pandemic, the high cost of energy and the cold weather in recent weeks were the reasons for the low sales volume observed at stores over the winter sales period, which ends on February 28.
“December, which traditionally is a good month for apparel, did not fare so well, while the sales have not performed the way we wanted so far,” says one market professional.
Many retailers, such as Pink Woman, Forel, BSB etc, started their offers before the opening of the sales window on January 10, in the hope of luring consumers into shopping in a period when coronavirus cases were soaring. “Sales have been weak in January and February. The good thing is that e-shops are holding on, as electronic commerce remains robust,” says an official at Greek apparel company Forel.
Market insiders say hikes of between 50% and 100% for raw materials have now started being passed on to finished products, resulting in hikes of 5-15%, and in some cases as high as 20%. They add that the already high electricity and gas bills for energy-intensive manufacturers in the sector have now quadrupled.
