The shops today will be open from 11 in the morning until 8 in the evening
The market and consumers are already in a festive mood, with commercial businesses preparing for a festive “breather” of liquidity and consumers becoming bargain hunters as price increases in a range of basic goods and services and limited disposable income will significantly limit Christmas spending.
With the stores open today Sunday, optionally, from 11 am to 8 pm, the festive hours premiere and “…market and consumers enter the festive atmosphere of Christmas and New Year” as the president of SELPE comments to APE-MPE , Antonis Makris.
In the meantime, businesses that sell children’s toys are joining the dance of festive offers from next Wednesday, until January 11, 2022, with 10 categories of toys included in the “Santa’s basket” (board puzzles, doll toys and other accessories, baby toys, action figures, construction toys with bricks, sports toys, balls, etc., stuffed toys, musical toys, remote-controlled and electric toys)
As far as the festive table is concerned, in supermarkets, the “household basket” turns from Wednesday until January 4th into a “festive basket” with additional options such as turkey, beef, buns or king pie and chocolates.
“The messages we receive from consumers show us that they are waiting for this period to serve their needs,” Mr. Makris emphasizes to APE-MPE and adds: “On their part, commercial enterprises are waiting for consumers with very good prices in the products and very good service, giving a touch of optimism to the gray everyday life which, due to the facts, is not the best possible”.
According to him, from the festive period the commercial world expects a stimulating injection of liquidity as December is traditionally one of the most critical months for the coffers of businesses with a quarter of the annual turnover of the stores being achieved during the Christmas and New Year holidays. .
A lead this year in physical stores
At the same time, according to the president of SELPE, the fact that consumers prefer physical stores for their purchases causes optimism. According to a rolling survey of the Business and Retail Association of Greece with the scientific support of the ELTRUN laboratory of the Athens University of Economics, 65% declare that they will make most of their purchases in physical stores while 15% online. “This result shows that the market will move at a very good pace” Mr. Makris points out and adds: “there is a sufficient supply of products in the stores while the prices will be very good for all the products for the benefit of the end consumer”.
How much the price hikes are influencing this year’s Christmas shopping decisions is reflected in the answers consumers gave to the question about the criteria on which they make their purchases. Thus, this year the monetary expenditure is the main criterion for 76% of consumers, while the percentage of consumers who shop with quality as the main criterion amounts to 15%. It is noteworthy that 31% of consumers state that the value of their purchases will be reduced this Christmas.
Regarding the amount of the estimated expenditure for purchases during the Christmas season, according to the same survey, 19% state that they will spend from 1 to 50 euros, 25% from 51 to 100 euros, 23% from 101 to 200 euros , 14% from 201 to 500 euros, 4% will spend more than 500 euros while 15% declare that they will not make purchases. As Mr. Makris reports to APE-MBE, this means that approximately half of the consumer public will spend this year’s Christmas on purchases of 145 euros.
Regarding how consumers spend their money, 45% state that they spend 90-100% of their income during the month, while 18% spend more than 100%. This, according to the president of SELPE, practically means that consumers, in order to cover their monthly obligations, either take their savings from the banks or borrow from elsewhere.
Consumer concerns and expectations
Revaluations and inflation are the biggest concern of the consumer public for the next year as well, as the professor at the Athens University of Economics, George I. Doukidis, reports to APE-MPE. In particular, the results of two ongoing consumer and economic climate surveys (IELKA and SELPE) showed that consumers expect an average 10% increase in prices in the next six months, while 3 out of 4 consumers consider price increases to be their most important problem today , much higher than other European countries (Italy at 32%, Germany at 40%, England at 60%). Inflation creates very strong emotions (such as insecurity, anxiety, fear, anger) among consumers, higher than other issues of public concern such as the pandemic, the invasion of Ukraine and strained relations with Turkey.
“Although there is a relative improvement over the summer in the sub-index of expectations for the next six months, we are still at a very low -67 compared to the recording base exactly three years ago. There is a negative consumer attitude towards large home purchases as 80% consider it not a good time, while 1 in 2 consider that they will generally reduce their spending on purchases in the next six months,” emphasizes Mr. Doukidis.
Also, one in two consumers expect spending on bills to increase over the next six months, which currently account for around 1/3 of their total spending. In fact, 70% of monthly expenses now concern taxes, rents and bills. According to Mr. Doukidis, all of the above puts financial pressure on households as a result of which they are forced to spend much more money than their income using cards, loans and savings.
It is noteworthy that the most important criterion for choosing products is now cost for 76% of consumers. Product brand is the only other criterion cited as more important by 15% of buyers. The cost factor also justifies the stabilization of systematic online shopping at high rates, since 35% of consumers shop online at least every two weeks (from 20% before covid and 50% during the lockdown period).
When it comes to the impact of energy and food costs, 60% of consumers believe that rising energy costs will reduce their disposable income by more than 20%. The categories of goods with appreciation that are considered the most burdensome are the cost of energy/heating (43% of consumers), food (36%) and fuel/transportation (19%).
But how do shopping habits change in the context of cost savings? As Mr. Doukidis explains, consumers take advantage of the difference in defense/reaction levels, in terms of the level of impact on their overall purchases, to save costs such as: changing eating habits by cooking more (27%), taking advantage of offers (84%) or cheaper alternatives (75%), reducing food consumption (67%) or electricity consumption (63%) and finally avoiding shopping (44%) or postponing shopping for personal items and household items (83%).
He emphasizes that a significant portion of citizens (40%-50%) will reduce their spending in the next six months for all categories of products/services (such as personal care, clothing, home goods, gifts, travel, office supplies, electronics). The only categories that reverse this negative trend are food and medicine where the percentages of consumers who expect a decrease or an increase in their purchases are divided.
RES-EMP
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