"The abolition of autumn intermediate sales worked positively for the Black Friday period in the shops of Attica, thus attracting the interest of consumers more than any previous year, since it actually brought an attractive discount period of a few days instead of at the beginning and at the end of the month and much closer to Christmas," said the president of the Greek Central Chambers Union (EBEP) and the Attica Regional Chamber Council, Vassilis Korkidis.
As he stated, "commercial traffic in the centre of Athens, department stores, superstores, shopping centres and discount villages developed very well. 9 out of 10 small and medium-sized businesses, with the largest participation, took advantage of the now well-known shopping event, while this year, even more supermarkets participated.
"Traffic in neighbourhood centres in the Municipalities of Attica was also satisfactory, with perhaps the best traffic in Glyfada and Piraeus.
"Transactions in the last three days at the cash registers of commercial stores appear to have increased by 10-12% compared to last year, with the estimated number exceeding 3 million purchases and the weekly turnover of 300 million euros.
"At first estimate, at least for 1 in 4 consumers increased spending by 15-20%, but not in all shops in Attica, and certainly not for all products.
"It seems that electronic products, electrical appliances, cosmetics, furniture, household goods and branded clothing and footwear products attracted consumer interest again this year.
"Shopping on Sunday, a 'wedge' between Black Friday and Cyber Monday, increased the turnover of brick-and-mortar purchases and limited the usual quadrupling of online purchases from before Friday until after Cyber Monday.
"Essentially, this year's festive season for shopping is off to a good start, with Christmas just three weeks away and retailers looking for higher turnover than last year and, understandably, lower prices for consumers.
"I hope that the Greek market will combine both this year and that the good start of commercial activity will continue throughout the winter, despite the inflationary difficulties and energy costs."
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