What turnover do supermarkets lose?

By George Lampiris

Part of the sales that gained the two years and the strong demand that was presented in the market, have started to lose in 2022 the Greek supermarkets, according to market sources, with which Capital.gr spoke. Recall that total sales in supermarkets increased during the first year of the pandemic, in 2020, by 9.7%. This was followed by 2021, when sales for organized retail were also increased, with a more significant impetus being received from the Greek Sklavenitis Supermarkets, which further increased their turnover last year by 5%, as this chain maintains approximately 1/3 of the total market in turnover, with a share of over 30%. Therefore, it is logical that every fluctuation of Sklavenitis, the largest chain in Greece, to entice the overall market performance.

Coming now to 2022, according to the information we have at our disposal, this March was a downturn for supermarkets. Let us not forget, however, that in March last year new restrictive measures and lockdown were imposed on the market, while consumers had to move by sending text messages to the five-digit number 13033, a fact that favored Greek supermarkets and their sales. In practice, the drop in sales this year is a loss compared to the revenues and profits of the previous two years of the pandemic.

Complete data reversal within 2022

This year the data in the market are presented completely differently. This is because the costs of supermarket chains are sharply increased in the fields of energy, transport, raw materials and other inelastic costs. At the same time, however, there is a decline in demand in the market as a whole, which stems from the inflationary pressures recorded in recent months.

The losses recorded in the largest chains

As sources familiar with the matter inform Capital.gr, all the largest chains in the market moved downwards in March 2022. In particular, the Greek Sklavenitis Supermarkets lost 2% compared to the corresponding sales in March 2021. Respectively AB Vasilopoulos lost a sales percentage of 8%, My market lost 3.5%, Masoutis 4.6%, Galaxias 9%, Market In 12% and Kritikos 2%. The information also speaks of losses recorded by Lidl, at the level of 6% during the period under review.

The above percentages should also take into account food inflation, which is around 5%, which reinforces the losses for the chains.

Overall, the market for March is estimated to have lost – purely from the reduction in consumption – a percentage of sales that exceeds 3% in March this year and compared to the corresponding month last year, a percentage that in any case is significantly higher than inflation foods mentioned above.