Trade is an industry that is constantly transforming and under “normal circumstances”, the gradual return to the post-pandemic reality could drag up the basic sizes of companies. However, smaller companies are much less optimistic about their sales development and overall viability, and this is a characteristic result of the size dichotomy found in the industry.
This was underlined by the speakers at the presentation of the Annual Report of Greek Trade for 2021, of the Hellenic Confederation of Trade and Entrepreneurship, which took place today at the Theocharakis Foundation, adding that due to price developments (energy crisis), monetary policy, Ukraine and the prolonged disruptions in the supply chain (increase in storage and transport costs) are slowing down and raising the return to normalcy.
According to the research findings:
The effects of the Covid-19 pandemic and the impact of the previous protracted debt crisis have had a profound effect on the domestic economy and, consequently, on the trade sector. Stormy developments in the international economic and political reality, as accelerated by the war in Ukraine and the spike in prices, cause new strong upheavals and impose inevitable challenges on entrepreneurship. Now, after the “triple crisis” (debt, pandemic and inflation), the changes of the economic and business climate are continuous, inflating the uncertainty and overturning fixed constants and forecasts. Trade and entrepreneurship in general are called upon to move in the midst of a fluid environment, full of unexpected challenges, where the only constant will be reversal.
Particularly:
1. The Return on Turnover Index (CPI) in retail trade recovered in 2021 compared to last year, but without this recovery being balanced. The special conditions of the health crisis favored comparatively more sales in pharmaceuticals and cosmetics, supermarkets (if the huge increase of 2020 is taken into account) as well as out-of-store sales (online). Of course, intra-sectarian dualism is not a pandemic offspring as it had already been identified in the 2019 Annual Report.
2. In the labor market, support measures have worked effectively, but at a high budgetary cost. Employment in trade showed stabilization trends and the sector remains, by far, the largest employer of the Greek economy. However, trade is an industry that is constantly transforming. This results from the large increase of employers, the constant decline of the self-employed but also the fall of employees, a fact that does not cease to cause concern. The ability of the scientific and business community to enhance the education and training of human resources in modern specialties in high demand will play a crucial role.
3. It seems that for 2021 the actions of the domestic market support during Covid-19 had a positive imprint on entrepreneurship. Under “normal circumstances”, a gradual return to post-pandemic reality could drag up key business sizes. After all, the total turnover has already increased, offsetting last year’s losses, especially in the wholesale trade and in vehicles.
4. However, smaller companies are much less optimistic about their sales performance and overall viability, a characteristic result of the size dichotomy found in the industry. The latter has always existed but the pandemic and the special operating conditions of the companies made it even more prominent. A typical example is that the average turnover of the smaller retail units has returned to the levels of 2016, losing any growth that had been achieved by 2019.
5. Despite the “general” recovery recorded in trade for 2021 but also the established (now) dualism in the industry, one of the categories of companies studied by the report, the smaller ones, seems to face the visible risk of its viability ( one in two “threatened companies” risks a permanent cessation of its commercial activity).
6. The picture, however, as recorded in the 2021 Report seems to be reversing as early as the first quarter of 2022. Adverse price developments fueled by the energy crisis, expansionary monetary policy, the war in Ukraine and the protracted disruptions in the supply chain (increase in storage and transport costs), slow down critically and leave the return to normalcy uncertain.
President of ESEE G. Karanikas
The President of ESEE George Karanikas noted in his speech that: “the small and medium commercial enterprise, once again, is facing a crisis, which threatens its survival. As traders, we ask to be given the tools to have “The next day. Trade is not a secondary activity in Greece, but a pillar of our development model.”
He noted that the Annual Report for 2021 is a resounding warning to the business class about the survival and prospects of its business.
As he said: “It is indicative that, already by 2020, the total sales of the trading companies recorded a decrease of 8.5%, while the gross profits fell to a lesser extent (5.6%). Nevertheless, the 2021, while employment in trade showed a marginal decline of 0.6%, compared to last year, the industry remains the largest employer in the country (with 17.9% of total employment), providing employment to about 700,000 of our fellow citizens. , taxation, declining consumer spending, lack of liquidity, rising commodity costs and unfair competition are the major problems for businesses.
It is therefore clear that the debate on market recovery and a return to normalcy, as far as possible, with the ever-changing data of geopolitical instability, should move around two main axes of intervention. ”
These two axes, as the President stressed, are the support of the State, for as long as the energy crisis and the consequences of inflation last, and for the digital transformation and the green transition of small and medium-sized commercial enterprises to proceed immediately and systematically.
Finally, he noted that, in particular, care should be taken of the sectors and SMEs that have been hit hardest by the pandemic, so as not to open the “gap” that separates them from the large multinationals and the few strong brands of domestic retail.
Source: Capital

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