Turnover in 8 out of 10 businesses was the same or even lower during the summer sales compared to last year, according to the results of the six-monthly survey of the Athens Chamber of Commerce, in collaboration with the Athens University of Economics, regarding the course of the summer sale period in retail.
The results are based on a large sample of different industries and regions. More specifically:
-More than 1 in 2 (58.7%) reported lower turnover compared to 2023,
-Almost 1 in 5 (19.8%) reported a stable turnover and
-Slightly more than 1 in 5 (21%) reported an increase in turnover.
In summary, about 8 out of 10 reported worse and the same turnover compared to last year.
In the clothing-footwear-accessories category
It is noted that the majority of the stores in the sample (6 out of 10) belong to the clothing-shoes-accessories category which play a primary role in the discount period, while it seems that in this particular period the lack of disposable family income, the increase in food prices in combination with continued global economic uncertainty, make it difficult to predict the behavior of the consumer public for the next six months.
Regarding the factor that significantly affects the operation of businesses at the moment:
-40% mentioned the application of the digital job card and the connection of the cash registers and POS to the AADE as a bigger problem, mainly due to problems with the connection to the internet.
-26% refered to the operation of the banking system, the increase in borrowing costs and the charging of high commissions, in all banking transactions (POS, checks, remittances, etc.).
-the taxation of self-employed and professionals’ income is a big problem for 16.8% of respondents.
As highlighted in the survey, the above results show that the operation of the banking system must be streamlined, to be able to support the country’s creative and extroverted commercial enterprises.
