The New Era in Greek Retail: Less Regulation, Targeted Offers, Customer Focus
Wednesday, April 30, 2025
At the "The New Era" panel discussion of the 15th Food Retail Conference by BOUSSIAS events on April 3, 2025, legislative reforms and their impact on organized retail in Greece were discussed. The panel included Sotiris Anagnostopoulos, Secretary General of Commerce at the Ministry of Development, Theodoros Gerostergioudes, General Manager of Diamantis Masoutis SA, Dimitris Kontos, General Operational Director of Metro AEBE, and Andreas Symeonoglou, Senior Vice President of Commerce and Marketing at AB Vassilopoulos. Mr. Anagnostopoulos emphasized that inflationary pressures forced many EU countries, including Greece, to take emergency measures. He mentioned that although price increases continue, inflation has decreased significantly, allowing for the gradual withdrawal of measures. The Greek market will follow European regulations, and he highlighted the Code of Conduct that promotes transparency in discounts. He also implied that more reforms would follow. Mr. Symeonoglou stressed that the Code improves communication with customers and that AB Vassilopoulos adapted from the beginning, despite difficulties due to old practices. He mentioned challenges in IT infrastructure and noted that businesses now operate under common rules, focusing on differentiation strategy.
The Industry Complies, but Consumer Skepticism Continues
Mr. Kontos referred to the measures implemented, which were considered necessary to protect consumers and the market. However, he expressed concern about the distrust toward Greek supermarkets, which are often portrayed as the "villains of the story." Although the industry complies with regulations, public discourse focuses only on cases of errors, negatively affecting consumption. Mr. Gerostergioudes, responding to a question about consumer trends due to reforms, cited a saying: "The question is not only what new will come and what will change in the next ten years," adding that what’s important is mainly what won’t change, because on stability one can devise strategy. He noted that Masoutis relies on three pillars: the importance of the point of sale, quality, and most importantly, prices. Mr. Anagnostopoulos announced that the Ministry will suspend the market regulation on limiting gross profit margins on April 30. The main sponsor of the 15th Food Retail Conference was Entersoft of the Softone Group, with iQom of the Epsilon Net Group as sponsor and pay pod as supporter.
Foteini Apostolou
Source: FoodReporter April 4th #1381, page 2