Galery

3

2

1

Greek economic crisis proved to be detrimental to small traders in the country, it brought along a lot of protests and civil unrest, but there is one positive effect - Greeks began to seek and prefer local over imported goods. To this conclusion came the specialized edition of Marketing Week, which analyzes the change in marketing strategies and consumer preferences after the economic collapse a year ago.

Experts estimate that by the beginning of the last global economic crisis on the Greek market dominated mainly imported goods. Only in 2008 the country spent on imports of goods and services over 61 billion euros. One of every four Euros of the GDP were used to buy foreign products, thereby the foreign economies rather than local have been strengthened. The deficit in the current account for that year was 14.6 percent of the GDP. Its value could have been much smaller if local production had satisfied the demand in the country. For example, a larger percentage of known and widely demanded cereals have been imported rather than being produced in Greece - 92 per cent of lentils consumed was imported, 46 percent of beans and 69 per cent of the lentils.

Today's government has announced as its main priority, that along with the implementation of the fiscal budget consolidation and structural reforms it will also change the economic policy of the country. The focus will be directed to stimulate the consumption with borrowed money to enhance production and exports.

Reducing imports and increasing domestic production are the main conditions for the recovery of the local economy. The preference of consumers to buy Greek products at home allows money to stay in the country to return to production and so to preserve jobs and even to open new ones. In this direction is also this year's initiative of the Ministry of Agricultural Development and Food, which will "infuse" three billion euros in 2011 in the production of products typical for Greece - olive oil, yellow cheese, cheese-feta, olives, wine, bread, durum wheat, honey, fruit and vegetables. Hellenic Chamber of Commerce also issued a proposal for the promotion of Greek products and all goods manufactured in the country will have an initial barcode beginning with the number 560.

Many Greek companies have responded quickly to new needs of the local economy and changed their marketing strategies. If in previous years greater importance was given to other qualities of the product, in the first place the highlights are already on the origin of the advertised product. Various managers of leading Greek manufacturing firms told the publication that a combination origin-quality-price is the secret of success of many Greek companies.

"The Greek origin is not sufficient, because consumers are basically looking for quality. The price must satisfy the needs and desires of the client, not to be unbearably high", says the Public Relations and Corporate Responsibility manager of the food manufacturer Unilever Mina Valavani. According to her Greek consumers are demanding and only the local origin is not sufficient to make the buyer choose the Greek merchandise.

Agis Pistiolas, who is the marketing specialist for the company working in the field of marketing and distribution of grains such as beans, lentils, peas and other Agrino says that it is not enough for the users to reach out and take the good with the Greek flag on the packaging. He wants the best for himself and his family. Therefore, companies must promote not only the Greek origin, but along with it to also endeavor to offer highest quality. Thus Agrino have decided to make a step further and describe on the packaging the manufacturer's name and the region in which the crops-source of the end product are grown.

"Companies, manufacturers of basic necessities of Greek origin have the responsibility to adjust the prices of the products they offer", claims the marketing director of the company for the production of sausages Creta Farms, Jenny Lahana. The crisis and the reduced consumption have caused the need for preparing a new pricing strategy that responds to the ever more quickly, "diminishing" finance of the Greek households. Creta Farms was one of the 40 companies that responded to the call of the minister of regional development and competitiveness Michalis Chrysohoidis and reduced by up to 30 per cent the prices of the end user of some of the their products.

The crisis has opened wider also another door for Greek producers and it's exports. Vivartia, ΦΑΓΕ, Olympos, Creta Farms, Honey Attiki, Agrino, Minerva and many others already have good positions on the international market. When the demand in the country decreased, these companies were forced to seek new customers outside the country to absorb the goods produced. Following the principle "Call the destiny to help you trouble" in the last quarter of 2010 exports in the country grew by nearly 10 per cent and this happened precisely due to the low domestic consumption. The crisis cornered the Greek producers and made them more bold and enterprising, which definitely had a positive result.

The well-known Mediterranean diet and the main products oo which it is based provides a solid foundation for exports and gaining new positions of the typical Greek products such as olive oil, olives, feta, vegetables and fish. On this basis is also established the innovative products of Creta Farms "Εν Ελλάδι" or translated "In Greece", which replaces the animal fat with extra virgin olive oil and travels all over the world, promoting the healthy diet known in the Mediterranean.