Inflation crushes supermarket sales

By George Lampiris

Sales in Greek supermarkets are declining sharply, as shown by the data of NielsenIQ available to the Capital.gr for the five months of 2022. And this is because based on the data of the measurement company, the reduction of sales in supermarkets in the period up to May 29 may be in value at -2%, however this percentage also includes the price increases of products, which increase the total value of the products sold and therefore the turnover of the supermarkets. The reporting period is compared to the corresponding period last year until May 30, 2021.

The drop in sales volume even reaches double digits

Practically, however, inflation at food is not calculated at this -2%, as the specific percentage in value arises after the increases in the total number of goods sold in Greek supermarkets have already taken place. Recently, the CEO of the Metro group (Metro Cash & Carry – My market), Aristotelis Panteliadis, had reported that inflation in food based on the imprinting of chains on their shelves is at the level of 8% -9%. Therefore, if one adds inflation, the real decrease in sales amounts to a double-digit percentage.

From 4.58 billion last year to 4.49 billion this year

In practice, sales in turnover until May 30, 2021 were 4.58 billion euros, while this year they decreased to 4.49 billion euros. All the data we quote are included by NielsenIQ except for all the supermarkets, and Lidl, which does not provide data from the evidence it issues, so that its market dynamics can be calculated, however NielsenIQ uses reduction system, which enables it to calculate the sales of the chain in our country.

Essential goods are losing ground

In addition, the same data show that fast-moving consumer goods also lost sales by -2.3% compared to last five months. In essence, the value of supermarket sales for basic goods from 3.21 billion euros in the first five months of last year, this year fell to 3.13 billion euros.

Among the basic categories of essential products, the largest decline is currently recorded by home care products, a basic category of goods that was strongly favored during the pandemic with high consumption of stationery and cleaning products. Now, however, these products, in the five months of 2022, lose 4.8% of their turnover, with the result that from 432.61 million euros in 2021, it has dropped to 411.84 million euros this year.

The next category that is most affected is that of personal hygiene products, which are 3% behind last year’s turnover in the five months, from 299.58 million in 2021 to 290.48 million in 2022. It is also a category that was strongly favored during the two years of the pandemic, as it includes products such as antiseptics. More moderate is the picture of falling sales of food with -1.8% contraction of turnover in the five months of 2022 to 2.43 billion euros from 2.48 billion euros last year.