The shops are open tomorrow, Sunday, January 21, due to the winter sales.

Their recommended opening hours are 11:00 – 18:00, while for shopping centers and department stores from 11:00 to 20:00.

Traders characterize the movement in the market as sluggish, while the vice-president of the Athens Chamber of Commerce, Nikos Koyoumtsis, speaking to journalists, attributed this image both to the effects of accuracy and to the fact that the winter sales came right after the festive season.

“The increases in food prices have cut the disposable income and we collect this in our cash registers”, noted Mr. Kouyoumtsis while adding that “money was spent during the festive season, so there is not much left over”.

However, he emphasized that there are attractive prices on the market and the quality-price ratio is at the best possible level, while he characterized the holiday turnover as satisfactory.

In the meantime, checks are continuing at an intensive pace throughout the market, while as the Minister of Development Kostas Skrekas noted after the Parliament approved the amendment on the measures to deal with punctuality, “the orderly operation of the market for the benefit of consumers is imperative. We will continue to support households and we will take every possible measure for this.”

The upvoting of the amendment (by SYRIZA, the New Left and the Spartans) was positively commented on by the market, as it is perceived as an indication of a more general decision to combat the structural distortions in the market that affect competition.

Prime Minister Kyriakos Mitsotakis has pointed out several times that “the inflation of greed will not be tolerated” while the Minister of Development Kostas Skrekas from the floor of the Parliament sent a strict message that until there are tangible results, checks for unfair profiteering will continue with all the tools at the government’s disposal, they will be intensive and universal and severe fines will be imposed where illegality is found.

The four meters

At the beginning of March, price reductions will be visible on supermarket shelves, since the implementation of the new measures, as stated by the Minister of Development, Kostas Skrekas.

It is recalled that the four measures are as follows:

1. Reduction of benefits to supermarkets. The total discounts of the suppliers are reduced by 30%, with a corresponding reduction in the prices of these products on the shelves. This measure will be applied to the categories where, according to the Competition Commission, deviations were observed. These products are: detergents, household cleaners, toothpastes, shower gels/shampoos and baby diapers.

2. Prevention of unjustified markups. Vendors who increase product prices are not allowed to run promotions on the products they have increased in price for three months. This measure applies to all products sold in supermarkets.

3. “Pure” prices from the field to the shelf. The suppliers are obliged to sell the products in the retail trade at “net” prices (net – pricing). Only a credit invoice of up to 3% is allowed for product or shipping returns. The measure concerns fresh fruit, vegetables, fish and meat.

4. Cap on gross profit margin for infant formula. For the selling prices of baby milk, a ceiling is set on the gross profit margin of the companies that import, produce and distribute baby milk in Greece. The ceiling is defined as the sum of the company’s operating costs for the specific product category and 7% commercial profit.