“Greek consumers have made a turn towards their homes, family and friends, boosting household consumption, searching for better prices and products. In this environment, the current economic crisis offers opportunities to those enterprises that will react by strengthening their position in the market in a timely manner,” a report by Boston Consulting Group stated on Monday.
As Athens News Agency reports, the survey on Greek consumers’ sentiment showed that 85% of consumers said they would lower their spending in the coming months, up 32 percentage points compared with the same report published seven months ago. The report also showed that 18% of consumers have transferred their savings abroad, while only 24% of consumers said they would buy Greek products, saying they could afford to pay for their higher prices. Some 65% of consumers said they faced financial problems, while 56% said they felt insecure, whereas the percentage of respondents worried over losing their jobs doubled compared with the previous report.
However, the crisis offers opportunities, as Vasilis Antoniadis, head of BCG in Greece and Camille Egloff, BCG managing director, have said. They stressed that Greek companies willing to act decisively by reviewing prices, adopting new technology, new trends and a more efficient promotion policy, would gain a large share of the market.
The report showed that 73% of respondents said they had fully realised they were going to consume less compared with the previous year, while 94% said they will postpone non-urgent purchases.
Nine in ten respondents said they would significantly cut expenses on non-primary need products, while 78% said they would focus more on discounts. A figure of 24% said they would change their consumption habits. Baby foods and fresh produce are apparently resisting the crisis, while 10% of respondents in the survey said they were prepared to spend more money to buy the best products. Alcoholic beverages, mobile telephony and luxury goods will suffer more from the crisis, the report said.
(source: ANSA)
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