Greek electrical retailers struggle to survive

The economic crisis is taking a toll on electrical appliance retailers in Greece, leading to many closures as their turnover is projected to slide to 900 million euros by 2013, compared to 1.3 billion last year as daily Kathimerini reports. Mergers and acquisitions are not seen picking up, while any that do take place will likely be among independent outlets -- smaller, specialized or regional chains, which form attractive targets as they offer different services at comparatively lower costs. In the first five months of the year, the turnover of domestic electrical retailers was down 26% to 340 million euros, from 460 million in the same period last year. The figure does not include information technology and mobile telephony appliances. If these are included, total turnover came to 670 million euros in the same period, from 820 million last year. Audiovisual equipment posted the steepest decline in sales, 31% in value terms, while air-conditioning systems represented the only category that did not register a drop in sales.