Supermarket

Papoutsanis, the company which set up modern Greece's first industrial-scale soap producing plant in 1870, expects its losses this year from the shuttering of hotels to be offset by soaring supermarket sales. The increase in demand as people wash their hands more frequently - due to the coronavirus outbreak - has seen its factory increase output in recent days.

The Hellenic Police (ELAS) has boosted patrols in neighborhoods and outside supermarkets and pharmacies in a bid to avert robberies and possible lootings while seeking to give citizens an increased sense of security.

A video showing SYRIZA MEP Dimitris Papadimoulis at a supermarket with two shopping carts stacked with supplies sparked an outcry on social media on Wednesday.

Supermarkets will be open from 7 a.m. to 10 p.m. Mondays through Saturdays and from 9 a.m. to 5 p.m. on Sundays under new emergency legislation that will go into force on Thursday as part of the government's bid to ease the challenges arising from measures to contain the spread of the coronavirus.

Online supermarkets are currently so inundated with orders that deliveries can take up to a week.

As e-supermarket visitor numbers were low - albeit growing - before the coronavirus epidemic hit, most didn't have the necessary infrastructure to deal with a threefold increase in orders in just a few days. The demand for storage space and delivery vehicles has shot up.

The first week that the new coronavirus was reported in Greece - i.e. the last week of February - witnessed an increase in supermarket turnover that was comparable only to the period straight after the government of Alexis Tsipras imposed capital controls in late June 2015.

People are emptying shelves in supermarkets in coronavirus-related panic buying amid the official confirmation of the first case in Turkey.

Pictures of empty shelves and long lines formed at supermarket cashiers have been circulating on social media.

Online supermarkets have seen their daily orders triple and a steep rise in the number of new customers since the coronavirus made its appearance.

Retail commerce and consumers appear to have developed an addiction for promotional offers, as despite repeated promises by supermarket chains to scrap the practice, promotional activities do not only show no sign of abating but are also taking an ever-growing share of total turnover.

Supermarket turnover posted an annual increase in 2019, albeit less than in previous years, according to IRI Hellas researchers. Provisional estimates for 2020 sales are even more pessimistic, which market analysts attribute to the fact the disposable income has not yet improved significantly, as well as to the aging population.