Longer shopping hours = increase of turnover?

Shop around the clock, 7 days a week – only few countries in Europe allow this by having a very liberal policy regarding opening hours. However not all retailers in these countries use these possibilities. Longer shopping hours do not mean an automatic increase of turnover.

Great Britain, Ireland, Poland or Hungary are a paradise for consumers. In these countries there are no restrictions regarding opening hours in the retail sector. All shops can open from Monday till Sunday, 24 hours per day. However this liberal policy means not that all shops are opened 24 hours per day. Most of the shops are opened just during the core hours. It is an illusion to believe that consumers` deepest desire is to be able to shop the whole night through across all branches. Mostly there is a demand for daily consumer goods also beyond the core hours.

In Austria the extension of shopping hours would mean a benefit especially for larger retail agglomera-tions and furniture retailers, is the location analyst Wolfgang Richter, CEO of RegioData Research, convinced. However these turnover increases would be minimal. For most of the smaller agglomerations the deregulation of opening hours in the retail sector would just mean an adjustment of turnovers from core hours to the extended opening hours, concludes Richter.