Retailing

Customers will re-order online and collect their items outside the stores

Consumer suspicions that this year's Black Friday offers didn't offer much in the way of bargains have been confirmed by data compiled by online commerce platform Skroutz, as just 8.32% of the products sold during the sales period last month had a discount of more than 10%.

Unlike Greek courier companies, which are struggling with an overload of orders, local supermarkets have successfully responded to the challenge of home deliveries and increased their clientele by expanding their services this year.

With retail experiencing its second lockdown in a year, representatives of big chains and smaller businesses alike are insisting that stores must open as soon as possible with strict measures in place, as courier companies and e-shops are finding it increasingly difficult to meet the increased demand.

The Greek champion said it was time a Harrods store opened in Greece

Seasonal stores will open from next Monday

TV sets at electronics stores may have only been available for window shopping this Black Friday, but despite the forced shutdown of brick-and-mortar shops, this year's promotional event went rather well, according to surveys, giving the market a desperately needed boost.

The new consumer habits the pandemic has created are here to stay, at least for most of the consumers who are picking them up during lockdown.

Some of the habits originally expected to be adopted within three years by a large part of the population, such as buying groceries online, were in fact adopted within a few days and now are considered routine for many Greeks.

Coronavirus deaths topped 400,000 on Nov. 28 in Europe, the world's second worst-hit region, as parts of the continent began to reopen shops for the holiday season.

From food delivery companies to air carriers, a wide range of firms participated in this year's Black Friday promotional event, which was unlike any other to date as orders, bookings etc were almost exclusively made online.