Retailing

The Online Marketing Research Agency JTN conducted a national-representative survey on April 20-24 on the consumer behavior trends in the conditions of COVID-19. It aims to outline major changes in customer behavior and attitudes.

E-commerce sales hit $25.6 trillion globally in 2018, up 8% from 2017, according to the U.N.'s trade and development body on April 27. 
The estimated 2018 e-commerce sales value, which includes business-to-business (B2B) and business-to-consumer (B2C) sales, was equivalent to 30% of global GDP that year, according to U.N. Conference on Trade and Development (UNCTAD).

Online shopping is continuing to increase in the European Union (EU). Together with increasing use of the internet and improving security standards, consumers appreciate the possibilities of being able to shop anytime, anywhere, with access to a wide range of products and easy price comparisons.

Markets will be open from 7 am to 3 pm, every day except on curfew days.
As for closed-end markets, such as Palilulska and Old Mercator, they will start operating on Monday, April 27th.
Belgrade Deputy Mayor Goran Vesic said yesterday that markets could only operate under certain conditions.

One of the big winners of the Greek lockdown has been jigsaw puzzles. Greeks both young and old have sent online sales of this category of table games soaring 1,654 percent month-on-month, according to a survey that tracked the switch of consumers to online purchases because of the Covid-19 restrictions.

Greek supermarkets are trying to handle the sudden jump in demand at their online stores through cooperations with courier companies, online food order and delivery platforms, and even Uber. This is in a period when their physical stores have also come under great pressure due to panic buying amid the coronavirus outbreak, especially last month.

The penetration of e-stores in Greece has soared in the last year, with the share of the population that has shopped online rising from 21 percent at the end of 2019 to 44 percent in late March and early April - i.e.

The penetration of e-stores in Greece has soared in the last year, with the share of the population that has shopped online rising from 21 percent at the end of 2019 to 44 percent in late March and early April - i.e.

BILLA Bulgaria will donate BGN 100,000 to fight the coronavirus in the country as part of the charity campaign 'Together against the coronavirus', initiated by the Bulgarian Red Cross. The campaign is raising funds to support efforts by the National Operational Headquarters to address the epidemiological situation caused by the spread of COVID-19.

Greece's efforts to contain the spread of the coronavirus will as of Wednesday extend to the shutdown of the majority of retail stores for at least two weeks. At the same time the government is expanding by two hours daily the opening hours of supermarkets, which will also operate on Sunday, so as to reduce congestion.