Greece

The Coronavirus (COVID-19) has resulted in a significant speeding up in the move away from cash, as consumers and retailers tried to avoid handling it, particularly in the early days of the pandemic. This has therefore been providing strong impetus…

In 2021, vacuum cleaners posted an increase in volume sales due to the rising health and hygiene concerns in the context of COVID-19. This was a growth driver in 2020 but in 2021 it faded slightly as people were less afraid of the virus and while…

Small cooking appliances achieved low but positive growth in 2021, driven mainly by coffee machines, the biggest category in volume sales terms. In Greece, consumer coffee drinking habits changed, starting from the first lockdown onwards, and this…

The retail volume decline in refrigeration appliances in Greece was much steeper in 2021 than in 2020. In 2020, store closures resulted in losses in the first, second and fourth quarters of the year. Practically, stores were open only between May and…

In 2020, volume sales of hair care appliances decreased due to store closures. There was a shift towards e-commerce, which started in March 2020 and increased in 2021. The increase in e-commerce of hair care appliances was stronger in 2021 because,…

Consumer perceptions of microwaves are not favourable in Greece as these appliances are not regarded as household essentials. They are fairly common, however, in student accommodation and new purchases were affected by the closure of universities and…

Store closures have affected the sales performance of large cooking appliances in Greece. Practically, after the outbreak of COVID-19, stores were open only between May and October 2020 and again from May 2021 (as well as some scattered weeks during…

Home laundry appliances witnessed ongoing, albeit less steep, decline in volume sales in 2021. Store closures resulted in losses in the first, second and fourth quarters of 2020 as well as in January-April 2021. The reopening and reclosure of stores…

Food preparation appliances witnessed positive volume growth in 2020 and 2021, in contrast to the decline seen in sales of these small appliances in previous years of the review period. Home seclusion and the closure of foodservice establishments as…

Volume sales of dishwashers continued to decrease in Greece in 2021, at a similar rate to the previous year. Among the formats sold, the volume share of smaller-size dishwashers (compact and slimline) decreased in 2020 and 2021. Smaller dishwashers…

Sales of dehumidifiers, following years of strong growth, posted a strong decline in both volume and value terms in 2020 and 2021. One reason is that the weather was unfavourable; in 2020, temperatures did not drop before December. Another factor is…

Natural decrease will be the main driver of further depopulation in Greece in 2020-2040. Ageing will continue to be a key trend as birth and fertility rates remain low, impacting consumer habits and putting increased pressure on state resources.…

Open loop pre-paid cards will see a small increase in 2021, with volume of transactions increasing at a somewhat faster pace than value. This is due to the continued decline of average spend per transaction as is the case across all financial card…

The first half of 2021 continued to be characterised by lockdowns, while the second half continued to face problems as the economy reopened, primarily due to the impact of COVID-19 crisis on incoming tourism - a major income source for Greece.…

Debit cards continue to grow dynamically in 2021 and further establish themselves as the dominant card payment scheme in Greece. The pandemic has further contributed to this, as the fear of using cash notes has boosted contactless debit transactions.…

The pandemic will continue to have an adverse impact on the transaction value of credit cards in 2021. The COVID-19 crisis has particularly impacted travel and entertainment, two key categories of spending for credit cards (with payments for…

Commercial charge cards have been negatively affected by the COVID-19 crisis and the impact of lockdowns on business activity. This led to the category recording a substantial decline in both volume and value transactions in 2020. In 2021, the…

Despite Greek banks continuing to prioritise business loans over consumer lending (although even these are only available for bigger, solvent businesses rather than the bulk of economically strained small and medium ones), the latter is set to show…

In 2021, consumer credit will see an improvement on 2020 as improved consumer confidence due to the easing of the general lockdown in May 2021, the ongoing vaccination process, and partial restart of travel and tourism contributes to growth in gross…

Wound care is among the areas of the Greek consumer health market that has been hardest hit by the fallout of COVID-19. Demand for these products – which was already in long-term decline due to maturity and lack of investment – has fallen sharply…