Greece

While freestanding microwaves claimed the lion's share in 2023, the share of built-in microwaves was growing faster than freestanding. Kitchen design trends favour built-in appliances, while the low penetration of built-in models creates more…

Value growth in hair care appliances was driven by air styling brushes in 2023, a relatively new category in Greece, posting a strong increase in growth. The value increase also benefited from the entry of Dyson products, which have a retail price…

The government scheme, Recycle, Replace Appliances, was launched in Greece in 2022, offering up to EUR500 subsidies for replacing old refrigeration appliances by upgrading to more energy-efficient models. This scheme has contributed to huge growth in…

Air fryers is a dynamic category in consumer appliances, posting the strongest growth in retail volume in 2022 while continuing to witness an increase in penetration in 2023. More players have entered the landscape, and the increase in competition…

Cylinder vacuum cleaners remained the largest category in terms of retail volume and value in 2023, regardless of the strong growth in more innovative areas. Penetration is not decreasing as many consumers are not replacing cylinder models with other…

Since mid-2022, inflationary pressures and the decline in disposable incomes have had an impact on Cannabis product consumption in Greece. On the one hand, the cost of living crisis is taking its toll on consumer spending on Cannabis products. These…

While traditional cafés offering table service have been strongly impacted by declining disposable incomes leading to drops in footfall and sometimes business closures, specialist coffee shops in Greece proved to be more resilient in 2023. This is…

2022 saw strong growth in inbound tourist flows for Greece, driven by lifted pandemic-related restrictions and the recovery of recreational travel. However, in 2023 there was a decline in inbound tourism, thanks partly to cost hikes in flights and…

Inflation continued to negatively impact consumer foodservice in Greece in 2023, yet to reach its peak in terms of effect. Lingering post-pandemic effects helped to curb drops in footfall despite huge declines in disposable incomes amid steep price…

High inflation in 2023 led to declining disposable incomes, in turn slowing down domestic spending in foodservice, despite the year marking a post-pandemic return to normal. While Q1 began with improved performance in terms of sales per outlet, the…

2023 saw dramatic rises in living costs resulting from soaring inflation and price hikes for food and energy, with consumer purchasing power squeezed considerably. Greeks had to reduce their spending on foodservice and prioritise essential purchases.…

Most independent self-service cafeterias in Greece are located in travel and lodging locations such as ferries, highway service stations, and campsites, for example. Within this context, following the strong growth recorded in 2022 in response to…

A large proportion of revenue in street stalls/kiosks in Greece is dependent on events such as festivals and football matches, deriving from operators selling food and drinks just outside of the action. With sales surpassing pre-pandemic levels by…

Air care is a discretionary category, thus is facing the challenges of offering non-essential products in a time of economic uncertainty and inflationary pressures. That said, sales are still managing to show positive volume and value growth, albeit…

Despite bleach remaining in a volume slump and suffering from maturity, the category is actually somewhat benefitting from consumers' reduced purchasing power. Essentially, bleach offers a cheap and effective cleaning solution, despite its negative…

Dishwashing is booming in value growth, driven by price hikes caused by increased costs for manufacturers and inflation overall. On the other hand, volume remains stable, albeit at low growth rates. This is because many dishwashing products are…

Overall inflationary pressures eased in Greece in 2023, compared to the inflation spikes seen in 2022. However, despite this improving economic environment, inflation remains high on home care products. Such pressures derive from the rise in energy…

Home insecticides is another category which is being impacted by price hikes, driven by high costs for manufacturers and inflationary pressures. Whilst players have aimed to absorb their own costs as much as possible, especially in light of the…

Despite laundry care remaining in a negative volume slump, value sales remain supported by the higher prices in the category, as the notable players are big global names. Indeed, Procter & Gamble Hellas SA and Unilever Hellas SA are the top two…

Polishes is a relatively uninteresting category, which is suffering from being a discretionary product in a time of economic pressures. Added to which, polishes has also been affected by price hikes, alongside the category not having a great deal of…

As a result of the decline in disposable incomes, consumer spending priorities have changed and, in turn, we are seeing sluggish volume sales overall, in addition to challenges faced by certain value-added products which come with higher price tags.…

Fragrance is a key area of new developments in toilet care, as players vie to catch consumers' attention. For example, third-placed overall brand Klinex (Unilever Hellas SA) launched a new series of rim blocks with essential oils, with unique…

Apparel and footwear specialists saw current value growth in 2023. Inflation and continued price increases have been driving more and more consumers into the second-hand market, which is gradually gaining ground in Greece. Recently, the Bulgarian…

Following Olympia’s EUR50 million investment in Public, which left Olympia owning 98% of the Public-Media Markt venture in Greece and Cyprus, the Media Markt stores have been rebranded Public + home and specialise in white appliances. Consequently,…

Convenience retailers witnessed growth in Greece in 2023 as more and more people visited their stores for their daily purchases. This trend started during the COVID-19 crisis, when consumers procured essential goods from nearby stores, and now it has…

Direct selling saw sales fall significantly in Greece in 2023. Since direct selling requires not only sales and interpersonal skills, but also strategic thinking, Oriflame decided to start blogging about how people can use direct sales techniques to…

The discounters channel saw an upward trend in Greece throughout the review period, which continued in 2023. The challenging economic conditions and high rate of inflation prevailing towards the end of the review period served to bolster consumer…

General merchandise stores saw continued current value growth in Greece in 2023. Many brands continue to invest heavily in traditional advertising, such as through television, since it still manages to target consumers aged above 40 years old who…

Health and beauty specialists saw current value growth in Greece in 2023. Players in the channel are working hard to differentiate their offers and adapt to evolving market trends. The Body Shop launched a store in Athens that is sustainably designed…

The home products specialists channel registered current value growth in Greece in 2023. During the year, Leroy Merlin, the third largest brand in home products specialists overall, inaugurated its first Naterial store, a showroom that offers the…

The hypermarkets channel saw value sales rise in Greece in 2023. Hypermarkets are evolving into small shopping centres. Their construction with escalators, their huge parking lots and the variety of products on offer are reminiscent of a shopping…

Retail e-commerce saw more modest current value growth in Greece in 2023, following three consecutive years of double-digit expansion. The fact that the penetration rate of e-commerce in many categories was relatively low by Western European…

Retail faced notable challenges in Greece in 2023. Inflation was - and continues to be - very high and prices were constantly rising. Retailers, regardless of industry, were forced to raise their prices as they could not absorb the increases in the…

While small local grocers saw current value growth in Greece in 2023, the channel’s expansion was less rapid than that seen in other areas of grocery retailing. Grocery stores that specialise in Asian, Mexican and other ethnic cuisines did see an…

Supermarkets saw value growth in Greece in 2023. Players in the channel expand their networks mainly through acquisitions, primarily focusing on the acquisition of small local chains in order to open stores all over Greece. Smaller chains were hit…

Vending saw dynamic current value growth in Greece in 2023, though sales remained far below the level seen in 2021. Vending in Greece declined dramatically after the closure of ThesGala-Pies Cooperative’s fresh milk vending machines, which had…

In 2023, away-from-home tissue and hygiene recorded an uplift in value sales, while volume sales were challenged by rising prices. Horeca operators faced reduced profit margins in 2023; the result of price hikes in operating costs due to a rising in…

In 2023, the menstrual care landscape in Greece was impacted by rising production costs and supply chain pressures, which urged companies to increase retail prices. This led to overall positive, double-digit retail value growth. To continue…

In 2023, nappies/diapers/pants in Greece was subject to price hikes; the result of an increase in production and logistics costs. Despite the increase in prices in 2022, retail prices rose further across all subcategories in 2023 as manufacturers and…

In 2023, retail adult incontinence in Greece recorded positive retail value and volume growth, with value sales boosted by rising price points. Unlike other hygiene product categories where the share of private labels is low, this is not the case…

In 2023, retail tissue in Greece saw a substantial uplift in retail value growth, driven by ongoing inflation. The retail price of tissue products saw significant hikes in 2022, which continued in 2023; the consequence of rising costs of raw…

In 2023, the tissue and hygiene landscape in Greece recorded double-digit retail value growth, driven by rising price points. However, the decline in disposable incomes influenced and shaped consumer behaviour in the tissue and hygiene market. While…

In 2023, wipes in Greece recorded a retail value decline, with retail volume declining in all areas apart from baby wipes. These declines were the result of higher price points and the rising cost of living, with consumers prioritising essential…

Excluding hair care and baby wipes, the baby and child-specific category registered volume decline in Greece in 2023, with current value growth resulting from unit price rises. Volume decline can be attributed to falling birth rates, leading to…

In 2023, growth in the largest subcategory in beauty and personal care in Greece, body wash/shower gel, was driven by price increases and tourism. Private label registered brand share growth owing to the tightening of household budgets.

High inflation and its subsequent impact on local consumers’ disposable income significantly impacted purchasing habits and brand developments across beauty and personal care in Greece in 2023.

As the category hardest hit by COVID-19 due to the closure of department stores and beauty specialist retailers, limited social occasions and mask-wearing, colour cosmetics recorded current value growth in Greece in 2023 but has still yet to return…

2023 was very positive for deodorants in Greece, as both core deodorant categories, roll-ons and sprays, recorded strong growth in volume terms. This can be attributed to the increased use of deodorants due to a changing climate and higher inbound…

A chronically declining category, hair removers and bleaches has seen an uptick in sales in the aftermath of the COVID-19 pandemic, and this increase can be attributed to increased willingness amongst consumers to socialise.

During the pandemic, the main channels for premium fragrances, department stores and beauty specialist retailers, suffered the biggest losses, while home seclusion and limited opportunities for going out and socialising dampened demand. However,…