Retail. Project approach to changing the sales management system

The current situation in retail

In modern business, especially in small businesses, as well as in the field of trade, the marketing manager contacts directly with the director of the company, who often has the most remote understanding of marketing. It can be quite difficult to convince a director to conduct any marketing activities. Therefore, it is so important to know and use the most advanced trade marketing technologies.

In this work, the main attention is paid to the process of servicing the buyer directly at the point of sale, and technologies aimed at the most complete and qualified satisfaction of the needs of the client.

According to official circles, there are currently 13,500 stores in Moscow, of which 6,200 are food stores. Over the past year, the number of stores has increased by 4,800 units. The stationary trade network of Moscow provides the city's population of 10,990 thousand people. The actual provision of the city with retail space (253 m2 per 1,000 residents) compared to the standard (230 m2) is 110%. The average monthly turnover of retail trade in Moscow in 2000 amounted to more than 50 billion rubles, the share of food in the sales structure was 41%, non-food products - 59%.

At the moment, retail chains in Moscow are represented by a number of companies that were organized 2-3 years ago and continue to develop. These are the following chain stores: Paterson (3), Ramstor (5), Perekrestok (21), BIN (8), Seventh Continent (11), Dixy (12), Avoska "(4), "Kopeyka" (18), "Capital" (12), "Fragrant World" (5), "Magnolia" (2), "London Bridge Supermarkets" (3), "ProdMak" (8) and others1

The essential difference between the Russian retail business and the Western one is that in the West 90% of marketing efforts are aimed at fighting for the customer. With a huge concentration of stores, it becomes more and more difficult to keep the buyer, to create conditions so that he does not have a desire to look into the store opposite. If only one customer is lost, the store may suffer significant losses and lose additional income. A study of the consumer market in Germany allows you to visually assess what the damage can be. A customer leaves 63,000 marks in a department store during his lifetime. If you offend him, then he will not appear in this supermarket for 10 years. The numbers make you think.

In Russia, the situation is significantly different. The peculiarity of the Russian market is its extreme unsaturation. A shop with normal prices and assortment is simply doomed to success. According to Western experts, we actually have no competition, there is no customer orientation, and marketers are mastering extensive methods of attracting customers. That is, they take not the quality of service and the longest possible retention of the client, but the dissemination of information among a larger number of potential customers. All efforts are aimed at ensuring that the buyer reaches the store by all means, even if it is located at the other end of Moscow. Seventh Continent, Perekrestok, Ramstore spend huge amounts on press and radio advertising to attract new customers.

But the loss of a buyer still does not hit our pockets, as it does in the West, where the margin is actually reduced to zero. Therefore, the quality of service is not the number 1 task. However, the situation is changing every day.

The advantage of a chain of stores is in significant economies of scale. It's a paradox, but labor productivity in Western networks is 5 times higher than in Russia. Why is that? This is achieved through a unified network management, which includes modern methods of automation, a high level of organization. We only call networks networks. In fact, there is simply no unified management.

On the other hand, such network management under the current conditions could harm Russian trade. If the management in one store is not very well debugged, when replicating, all errors increase many times over.

2001 is a turning point in the development of the domestic retail business. So far, retail trade belongs mainly to domestic entrepreneurs. Obviously, this situation will not last long and soon we will learn about the first moves of the European giants in Russia. At the same time, the prospects for competition with Western retail chains do not look very bright. The main problems are the small size of domestic networks and the lack of free financial resources for tactical maneuvering.

At this turning point, the active adoption and use of modern technologies that are already used in the West can be a significant advantage in the competitive struggle.

Merchandising

One of the elements of trade marketing, which is actively used in the West, is merchandising.

Merchandising is a set of activities carried out on the trading floor and aimed at promoting a particular product, brand or packaging. It deals with the buying process itself and aims to influence the behavior of the buyer who is already at the point of sale.

According to the theory of merchandising, there are certain rules for displaying goods. Shelf space must be allocated adequately to the sales and profits brought by certain brands and their types. Items can be placed at floor, hand and eye level (hand and eye level is best). When placing goods, it is important to remember that the human eye moves more easily from left to right and from top to bottom, as when reading.

Placement within the group can be carried out in the form of a horizontal or vertical display. With a display layout, additional points of sale are placed in visible places according to the movement of customers. In practice, most often these methods are combined.

The layout of the trading floor begins with the specification and specification of the assortment in the store, determining the ratio of product groups, identifying groups of everyday and high-demand goods, a list of related products, and commodity items that bring maximum profit. This allows you to highlight the areas of the most effective location of goods on the trading floor, taking into account the psychology of consumer demand.

There are some general principles for the placement of product groups and the layout of commercial equipment. The area in the sales area is not equivalent in terms of sales per 1 m2. Their significance decreases as the flow of customers from the entrance of the store towards the opposite wall decreases. In the area adjacent to the entrance, about 40% of the total turnover of the store is realized. The next most important zone gives 30% of sales, and the next - respectively 20% and 10%. The redistribution of groups of goods in the hall, taking into account these circumstances, allows you to increase turnover.

Observations show that the majority of buyers, getting into the closed space of the store, start bypassing it, moving from right to left. Based on this, the placement of the entrance to the store should be thought out (entrance - on the right, exit - on the left) and the placement of the shelves themselves. A trendy walkway, or "perimeter aisle," has been devised, with shelves of particularly enticing products, as well as promotional novelties and relatively short-lived products that will soon be replaced. It should be borne in mind that 80-90% of buyers bypass all points of sale located along the perimeter of the trading floor and only 40-50% of buyers bypass the inner rows.

Approximately 60% of the area of ​​the outlet must be left for the movement of customers so that they feel comfortable.

In the zone of intensive trade, there are goods that give a large profit, are most attractive to buyers and are characterized by a fast turnover. It is in this zone that the route of movement of buyers along the trading floor should begin. And finally, in areas where the influx of buyers is not so intense, it is reasonable to locate consumer goods. Moving towards them past related products stimulates impulsive purchases of the latter. To attract customers to the central part of the store, the attractiveness and sales potential of the most popular products are used, which can help increase the sale of other products located near them, but do not have such an attractive force.

The distance between departments and shelves is also thought out, so that at the shelves with highly profitable goods, buyers can calmly, without hustle, make a choice of goods.

The route offered to customers through the store should be coherent, smooth, pleasant and rational. The buyer must not pass the same place twice. Accessible signs and clear labels should make it easy to locate goods. At the same time, in order to change the usual route of movement through the store, managers often practice moving goods from one place to another.

In modern store building, it is considered more efficient to place goods on the trading floor according to consumer complexes. This principle means placing interconnected groups of goods in one zone. The layout of the trading floor based on the formation of consumer complexes stimulates impulse purchases.

The systematization of the main groups of goods into consumer complexes and their schematic placement over the area of ​​the trading floor is the first and indispensable condition for building the concept of customer service in the store. In fact, this is a draft version of the future placement of commercial equipment.

With the advent of new information technologies, a more scientific substantiation of some of the classical principles for the placement of product groups and the presentation of goods to the buyer has become possible. Previously, they were based mainly on empirical data, psychological and other assumptions.

Let us illustrate this statement on the example of a hardware complex with supporting software called "InfoBoard"3.

Communication devices are mounted in carts, and the trading floor is equipped with receivers-transmitters. The receivers are located so as to control the critical areas of the trading floor.

The computer system tracks the route of each shopping trolley, as well as the time spent in each area of ​​the trading floor by measuring the temperature fields.

As a result of processing data arrays, a thermogram is compiled. The direct result of measurements is not convenient enough for analysis, but with appropriate computer processing, it becomes possible:

• calculate the real need for carts;
• establish the average trajectory of the movement of buyers in the trading floor;
• identify the percentage of attendance for each product group;
• set the average time of making a purchase in different areas of the hall.

Such thermograms are built according to trading periods and really help to understand how to build logistics for supplying goods to the hall at different times. The analysis of these parameters provides important information for marketers, which allows you to optimize the distribution of the assortment on the trading floor (Fig. 1, 2).

The effective presentation of goods on the trading floor, including ways to inform the buyer inside the store about various sales promotions, as well as advertising at the point of sale, is called micromarketing. According to studies, micromarketing allows you to increase turnover by 5%, and by 60% - the number of articles sold.

So, buyers are more willing to choose goods, the price of which is indicated and clearly visible, so the store must take care of the correct placement of price tags. In order not to mislead customers, price tags should be located exactly under the product for which they indicate the price.

Recently, in micromarketing, those methods that are based on automated trading systems are becoming more and more popular. Paper sales announcements are gradually being replaced by electronics, with the help of which the issue of supporting sales promotion actions is being solved. All sorts of information boards, electronic price tags are buzzing, flashing in all sorts of colors and thus beckoning the buyer to the product. In Russia, the use of electronic price tags is still problematic, since according to our laws, the signature of the responsible person must be on the price tag.

Electronic scoreboards attached to carts work well. When the trolley enters a certain area, this board will inform you with the help of sound and color effects that there is a product presented at an exclusive price in the immediate vicinity.

Picture 1

The trajectory of the movement of consumer flows

Figure 2

Time of purchase

Discount programs

One of the effective sales management tools is the use of discount cards. All trading cards work within a certain discount program. The purpose of the discount program is to attract new customers and retain old ones by providing them with discounts on the sale of goods and services.

The economics of trading cards is quite simple. The revenue part is formed due to the increase in turnover, the expenditure part is due to the issuance of discounts. The store can set other goals for issuing trading cards, for example, image character, convenience of settlements with the client, research of consumer activity, etc.

All the variety of trading cards comes down to two models of their functioning: settlement and customer loyalty scheme. There is also a mixed scheme.

Settlement cards can work both under the prepayment scheme and under the deferred payment scheme. When customers use prepaid cards, the determining factor is the possibility of obtaining discounts.

The customer account may be maintained in a store database accessed by a magnetic stripe card, and may be maintained in the chip memory on the card and displayed in the database at the end of the day, after the collection of settlement transactions from all POS terminals or checkouts.

A prepaid card allows you to set a scale of discounts depending on the size of the balance on the card account - the higher the balance, the greater the discount. Such a construction of a discount scheme encourages the buyer to replenish his account more often, more precisely, to keep a sufficiently large amount on the account, and this is beneficial for the store.

The classic loyalty scheme consists in calculating special reward points, the number of which depends on the purchase price, and receiving a one-time discount. The card is usually issued free of charge. It is expected that the more and more often the customer buys, the faster he will receive a discount. Sometimes a time factor is introduced - bonuses must be accumulated over a certain time. Otherwise, they "burn out", and everything must be started anew.

An example is the bonus system popular in the Czech Republic. Immediately after paying at the checkout, the buyer goes to a special device - a cash dispenser, which has already received information about the purchase just made, and inserts an identification card into it. The display shows the amount of points collected for purchases and a list of goods that can be selected for this amount. Gifts are immediately displayed in the window. If there are not enough points for a suitable gift, the client has the right to accumulate points for a more expensive prize4.

Another form of loyalty program is the issuance of an initial discount to the buyer for the period of accumulation of bonuses, and increasing the amount of the discount as they accumulate.

So, for example, the customer loyalty program works in the Arbat Prestige perfumery and cosmetics store. The cost of purchased goods is accumulated on the card account. The system works in on-line mode. There are five types of cards - two ordinary (5 and 10% discount), silver (15% discount), gold (20% discount) and platinum (25% discount). The buyer accumulates bonuses on an ordinary card, which he receives when buying goods for a certain amount (the card immediately gives an initial discount). After exceeding a certain threshold, he is given a new card - with a higher level of discount. The accumulation of bonuses, already with the help of a new card, goes further. At the last stage of the loyalty program, the buyer receives a VIP card with a maximum discount.

The third form of loyalty program is often practiced by stores selling consumer electronics, computers and office equipment. The card is issued to the buyer in the event that he has purchased goods in this store for a certain amount, usually quite large. Discounts range from 5% to 10%, they are valid for the entire validity of the card. Often the card is not limited to any period of validity and is not personalized (it is issued to the bearer). This is done for obvious reasons: such goods are bought relatively rarely, so a low-cost mechanism is needed to attract new buyers. Holders of such cards, by transferring their cards to others, become, in essence, agents of the store. As an example, we can name the trading cards of the firms "Party" and "M-Video".

With the fourth form of loyalty, the price of the card depends on the duration of its action. Usually the card is issued for a year. It can also be bearer. This form is often practiced by food retailers. The disadvantage of this type of card is that customers are not very fond of giving money up front, and then "returning" it to themselves in the form of a discount, making purchases only in this store.

An example is the Magistral store, located on the road to Sheremetyevo. A large table with the expiration dates of the cards and the percentage is posted for everyone to see. The buyer is offered to buy a 5% card for 30 days, choose 10% discounts for half a year, etc.

Perhaps, it is for marketing reasons that loyalty schemes with bonuses are more common abroad. They solve the main task of loyalty schemes - they tie the client to this store and stimulate him to increase the volume of his purchases. In addition, bonus schemes make it easy to supplement them with services that are not related to the main activity of a trade and service enterprise.

Another attractive feature of the bonus scheme is the ability to exchange bonuses from one store for bonuses from another. An example is the Dial Electronics chain of stores. Using her cards, you can get discounts in the Technosila chain of stores.

In the West, cards issued by banks jointly with trade and service enterprises are widespread. Here, in Russia, VISA MDM-Bank / Seventh Continent can serve as an example of a joint card.

Discount cards are not only a way to attract a buyer, but also a way to collect information about the buyer, and on the basis of this information - attraction to the store. This is an axiom of Western marketing, but in most cases in Russia they simply do not know how to get this invaluable marketing information and what to do with it later.

The most effective and easiest way to collect marketing information about customers is to exchange a card for information about yourself. The Russian buyer is not yet quite ready to leave information about himself, but, nevertheless, regular customers, who are very important for the store, respond well to such offers. Moreover, when filling out the questionnaire, it is stipulated that the client has the right not to fill in the items that alerted him. This partially removes the tension characteristic of the Russian mentality. This method of distributing discount cards clearly shows that information costs money, that it is very important.

Self service

The most effective customer service system, proven over the years, is the self-service system.

In contrast to the generally accepted opinion, the reduced number of service personnel has little effect on the price of the goods, this is more of a marketing ploy. Self-service provides a different kind of benefit - greater customer satisfaction. The customer regards the expansion of opportunities to serve himself as an increase in the confidence of the store and always evaluates it positively.

In its most modern form, self-service has become widespread in the vegetable department. The buyer himself weighs the goods, presses the button with his image, and a label is immediately printed, which the buyer sticks on the package and later pays for the purchase at the checkout. Later there were scanners for buyers. The buyer himself scans the purchases, and then pays at the checkout.

Immediately the thought arises of the huge losses incurred by self-service stores. Western supermarkets are losing, but are thriving nonetheless. It is reported that selective controls are possible in order to combat theft, but in reality this is almost never done. The philosophy of many Western companies is that it is better to miss one thief than offend an honest buyer.

For Russia, this degree of trust seems absolutely unacceptable. It seems so, but objective studies show that with a high level of self-service, our customers steal no more than in the West. The level of theft among staff is on the rise.

To combat theft, both traditional and modern methods of protection are actively used. Traditional video surveillance systems in 95% of cases cannot detect theft in real time - a person quickly gets tired of monitoring monitors. In a modern self-service store, they are installed to combat theft committed by staff. Increasing the security staff requires additional costs and discourages buyers. Looking after the goods of sellers distracts them from their direct duties, which affects the quality of service.

The problem of theft is solved by installing special anti-theft equipment - EAS (Electronic Article Surveillance). The principle of operation of the anti-theft system is the detection of a special protective element (labels or tags) attached to the protected product. Detection takes place in the field between antenna frames located on the border of the protected area.

The problem of optimizing the process of paying for goods leads by a large margin in the list of other problems. However, the classic, accepted everywhere, self-service is only half of it. The buyer moves freely around the store, picks up the goods in the cart, goes to the cash register... This is where all his problems begin. The constant crowd around the cash register, especially during peak hours, narrow aisles, long queues, settlement with the cashier, waiting for a money transfer when using a credit card, receiving a check, shifting goods from the conveyor. It is difficult to call this process "self-service".

Buyers are constantly trying to return to the issue of self-calculation. This problem has not yet been solved in the West, and even more so in Russia. However, some solutions are starting to emerge. Thus, the most developed solution is being implemented in the EDEKA supermarket located in Erfstadt, a suburb of Cologne5.

Constantly interested in new technologies, the manager of the company found an effective solution to the problem and introduced a self-scanning complex for regular, “tested” customers. Briefly describe the application of this complex can be as follows.

Stage 1 The buyer is identified by placing the payment card in a special counter-reader. At the same time, the system sets the maximum amount for the release of goods (in accordance with the balance on the card), and also reads individual information about the buyer from the database (which is very important, for example, if, due to the individual characteristics of the organism, he can consume products with significant restrictions).

Stage 2 The buyer selects goods from the shelves, at the same time reading bar codes from the packages using an individual scanner. The name of the product, as well as its price, is displayed on the electronic scoreboard of the device. With each newly selected product, the current purchase amount is automatically adjusted over a wireless communication line with the general computer system of the store. Note that if the database contains information about the individual intolerance of certain ingredients by the buyer, the system automatically warns him when trying to take goods where the corresponding ingredients are used.

Stage 3 When leaving the store, the procedure for debiting the buyer's payment card for the amount corresponding to his purchase is automatically initiated (by contacting the processing center), a standard cashier's receipt is printed. The individual scanner is returned to the rack.

With a printed check, any client can be subject to selective control. The benefits of working with self-scanning technology are obvious:

• no waiting in line;
• easy determination of prices for the selected product and important properties of the product for the buyer;
• compliance of the purchase amount with the balance on the buyer's account;
• automatic post-calculation.

Conclusion

In the West, the retail market today is characterized by slight growth, price wars, and, as a result, low profits, the size of which is steadily declining. The same trend is beginning to emerge in Russia. Therefore, even a small advantage over competitors can significantly affect the success of a trading company. Now, more than ever, success comes to companies that are constantly responsive to market demands and have faster access to more valuable information. Therefore, having the right information at the right time in the right place and the ability to use it effectively in the current market situation is the No. 1 competitive advantage.

Valery Velikanov, 4th year student at the Institute of Service Economics

* Based on the materials of the report made at the II All-Russian scientific and practical conference "Problems of practical marketing in the service sector" - 2001

1. Based on the materials of the international conference "Organization of retail chains: world experience and Russian features". Moscow, 2000.
2. Trade equipment magazine, December, 2000, No. 12, p. 67
3. Trade equipment magazine, January 2001, no. 1, p. 68.
4. Trade equipment magazine, December, 2000, No. 12, p. 68
5. Trade Technologies Journal, January 2001, No. 1, p. 64.

Reading Habr, I see a lot of great articles written from the perspective of a specialist. Much less articles are published that describe the management experience at the intersection of "people" and it. In my last article, I described my experience in preparing data for analytical CRM. Based on the content of the comments to it, on New Year's holidays, I came up with the idea that readers of Habr might be interested in an article about why such a tool as analytical CRM might be needed, and what it can give a specific manager.

Description of the situation

A few words about myself

Since 2007 I have been a sales consultant. In 2009, acquaintances suggested that I take up crisis management at a cable plant in the Nizhny Novgorod region. In four years, I managed to increase revenue by 7.8 times, raise the profitability of sales from 8 to 19% and receive tax preferences from the regional government.

• let it be as it is;
• engage in micromanagement;
• will improve sales management processes.

• track the execution of tasks;
• keep statistics;
• effectively balance the efforts of employees between the tasks of selling, collecting receivables and maintaining good personal contact with customers.

• customer relations;
• range;
• brands;
• staff.

Project planning

• Increase sales in a year by more than 30%. Criteria - shipment data.
• Implementation of CRM. The criterion is the possibility of using information about the history of relations with clients for making managerial decisions.
• Finalized project documentation. Criterion - working documents created during the implementation of the project are collected in electronic form.

• Ordinary performers do not want to change anything, they are not interested in optimizing business processes. At a minimum, they do not want to learn new things, they are afraid of the process of change.
• The reluctance of employees to learn new things is often caused not so much by their laziness, but by the fact that the result of habitual actions will begin to fail if significant changes are introduced.
• If a person processes few tasks for clients, you need to achieve a change in his behavior and only then demand to work in CRM.
• The process of entering data into CRM should be simple, it should contain only the information necessary for work. If it is perceived as a tool for regular spam and forced data collection, then it will cause nothing but irritation.

• Finish implementation in 6-9 months.
• The total budget of the salary fund should not increase by more than 10% of the increase in revenue.
• The amount of CRM costs should not exceed 100 tr.
• When choosing a system, you need to make the lion's share of the effort yourself, because. the end user of the system my employees and me.
• The speed of work in the new conditions will increase approximately to the previous level, not earlier than 3-4 months after the start of the changes.
• It is expensive/long to educate/buy a seller, it is cheaper to reduce the number of his potential mistakes.

• Purchase crm
• Improvement of crm
• Costs for additional motivation of employees

• shipment regulations;
• regulations for working with accounts receivable;
• product presentation script;
• cross-selling script;
• objection script.

Required Tools

Go/No-Go Decision

Project start

Development of analytical CRM

Selecting and configuring the system

• localization;
• simplicity of the interface (ease of use by sellers);
• functional logic;
• the ability to customize by means of the CRM itself;
• the cost of an hour of revision;
• presence of a user community.

• form of work with the schedule of shipments to customers;
• form of work with a schedule of contacts with clients;
• plan execution form for clients (input data from 1C processed in Deductor was used to fill this form).

Training, preparation and start of the system

results

• A unified system was introduced that automates sales business processes (keeping information on customers, monitoring the implementation of the sales plan, automating the work of sales representatives, etc.).
• All sales business processes became transparent. To work on the entire life cycle of the client (potential, discrete, loyal), criteria for quality work were developed. The system made it possible to track which actions of employees lead to results and which do not.
• Clients ceased to depend on managers; in the event of an illness of a particular person, his planned contacts were transferred to another manager. The statistics system made it possible to more evenly distribute work among managers, and their quality of work began to grow.
• The schedule built into the system did not let them forget about the purpose of the contact. Its integration into the client's profile made it possible to update information about the state of affairs.
• The frequency of customer orders has increased, the average order amount has increased.
• Reducing the time to search for information allowed managers to focus on the promotion of priority products / brands, which led to additional sales.
• I got rid of the need to bring data from 1s into reporting in excel.
• By setting time limits on entering information (the employee must report on the results of work for the week before 14:00 on Friday), I got timely monitoring of work for the week and the opportunity to quickly discuss with employees what specifically leads us to success.

Introduction 1

Introduction

Retail trade is the dominant branch of consumer cooperation, which is due to its share in the total volume of the system's activities and the functions it performs. Commodity resources are the material basis for the development of retail trade. The sources of receipt of commodity resources in the retail trade of consumer cooperation are diverse and specific. Their optimal combination allows you to establish rational economic relations with suppliers to better meet the demand of the population served and the effective functioning of retail trade. Improving the structure of the sources of receipt of commodity resources in the retail trade of consumer cooperation involves the optimal combination of intra-system and extra-system sources of income. At the same time, the most important task is to increase the share of own commodity resources in providing retail trade to consumer cooperation, which contributes to the development of its main activities and the fulfillment of the social mission of the system.

The effectiveness of retail management depends on the speed of response to a problem situation and the validity of management decisions at the operational level, since the processes aimed at purchasing and selling goods are implemented by organizations daily to maintain the resource base and extract economic benefits. Operational management creates conditions for the uninterrupted supply of goods to the population, the rhythmic operation of retail trade enterprises, the fulfillment of plans for the sale of goods, maximization of profits and, ultimately, the realization of the social mission of consumer cooperation.

My goal was to analyze the management of the organization of retail sales of goods on the example of Oberon LLC, one of the stores of the Samberi LLC network.

The following tasks follow from this goal: to give the concept of retail, to classify the methods of retail sale of goods, to identify trends in the development of retail, to determine the impact of the layout of the store and the principles of displaying goods on sales efficiency, to analyze the methods of sales promotion used by the store.

When writing a term paper, information was used on the activities of Oberon LLC for the 2nd quarter of 2010, materials from periodicals, normative, methodological and reference literature.

The course work consists of three chapters. The volume of work is 42 pages. The work presents 2 figures, 3 formulas.

When writing a term paper, 23 literary sources were used.

In the course work, I used such research methods as synthesis (a method consisting in connecting separate parts into a single whole), induction (a method based on inferences from the particular to the general) and comparison (a method that determines the similarities or differences of phenomena).

1 Organization of retail sale of goods

1.1 Retail

Retail trade (English retail, retail) - the sale of goods to the final consumer (individual).

Retail trade - sale of goods and provision of services to customers for personal, family, home use, not related to business activities. Retail is the final stage of the distribution channel.

Unlike wholesale, goods purchased in the retail system are not subject to further resale (in accordance with the current legislation, clause 1 of Article 492 of the Civil Code of the Russian Federation), but are intended for direct use.

The relationship between the seller and the buyer in the retail system is regulated by a special law. In the Russian Federation, this is a consumer protection law.

The subjects of the retail trade process are the seller and the buyer. An indispensable attribute of retail is a cash register and a cash receipt. Retail trade includes the sale of goods through vending machines.

There is the concept of a retail store format. This is a set of characteristics inherent in any type of store. These characteristics are:

The area of ​​the trading floor;

Number of commodity items;

Level of customer service;

Product placement technology.

There are the following retail trading formats:

Discounter;

Shop at home;

Supermarket;

hypermarket;

supermarket;

Department store;

Trade can be a powerful foreign policy tool. To this day, the ability to trade greatly affects the power of the state. If we compare retail trade as a branch of the economy, for example, with ferrous metallurgy, then retail trade has undeniable advantages: it does not pollute the environment, does not require raw materials for reproduction.

The economic basis of retail trade is the trade margin (margin). The trade margin is the difference between the purchase and sale price. The trade margin is the main income of a retail enterprise; as a rule, in the food trade it does not exceed 25-30%, and, for example, in the clothing retail trade it can reach up to 200%. From the received trade margin, the trader pays current expenses, such as: rent of premises, wages of employees, security, telephone, cleaning, etc., the profit of the trade enterprise is formed from the remaining funds. It ranges from 1-3% in large food retail chains to 20-30% and even 50% in non-food retail.

But the trade margin is not the only source of income for retailers. Retail also earns by placing ads, holding promotional events, selling retail space and shelf space. In order for the goods (this is typical for food trade) to be sold in any of the networks in Russia, it is necessary to pay a special “bonus for entering the network”. Thus, the operators of this market increase the profitability of their business.

1.2 Features of the functioning of retail trade

The retail trade network is classified according to two criteria: stationarity and product assortment profile. According to the first sign, the retail trade network is divided into:

stationary (shops);

semi-stationary (pavilions, tents, stalls, kiosks);

mobile (delivery and delivery).

According to the second criterion, the retail trade network is divided into:

mixed (trading goods of one or two or three groups or complexes);

specialized (trading in separate subgroups and types of goods);

universal (trading all groups or food or non-food products).

An analysis of the characteristics of each type of retail trade showed that current trends in the development of retail trade should be based primarily on the ratio of in-store and non-store forms of selling goods.

In recent years, this ratio has lost its positive dynamics. More than half of the retail turnover is realized today on the basis of out-of-store forms of sales. This circumstance has quite definite negative consequences - a decrease in retail turnover.

In order to actively compete with out-of-store sales, the general principles of the retail network should be:

universalization of food trade with the exception of goods of rare episodic demand;

development of specialized and highly specialized non-food stores in residential development centers;

formation of trade networks, large universal retail enterprises, shopping centers and shopping malls;

organization in the central trade areas of residential areas of enterprises with a high level of trade services;

formation of a system of so-called convenience stores located within walking distance and selling a wide range of food and non-food products;

allocation of special zones for street fairs and bazaars;

formation of autonomous trade service zones along highways;

restoration of retail trade through vending machines.

The retail infrastructure of any regional retail service model should provide a variety of structural and functional parameters of retail facilities and always be focused on specific retail service areas.

The diversity of retail trade enterprises in terms of their structural and functional parameters should be ensured on the basis of the formation and development of:

independent retailers;

retail trade enterprises owned by commodity producers;

retail trade enterprises owned by wholesale trade organizations;

municipal retailers.

All this proceeds from the fact that the formation of a system of retail trade enterprises by commodity producers, wholesale organizations, as well as municipal authorities is a completely natural process and is aimed at creating a full-fledged socially oriented market environment.

In this environment, an independent retailer is one that is not affiliated with any associations. A store owned by a producer or wholesaler always operates as part of the respective company and is therefore dependent. A municipal trade facility is, as a rule, a socially oriented retail trade enterprise that complements the trade service system that has developed within the municipality.

The diversity of retail trade enterprises from the position of their orientation to a specific trade service area should provide for the allocation in any trade service system:

local stores;

stores of system-wide importance;

stores within shopping malls;

shops (tents, kiosks, pavilions, along highways).

Local stores should be located within walking distance and sell a universal range of food and non-food products.

The typical composition of stores of general system significance is more diverse, therefore, they should include specialized and department stores, stores with a combined assortment of goods.

A special place in the classification of market structures is occupied by a shopping center, which is a set of trading enterprises planned, built and managed as a single territorial complex with an extensive parking lot, therefore, enterprises within shopping centers should constitute a special group of retail trade enterprises. The mall always offers a versatile range of food and non-food products. Shopping centers should be formed at the intersection of major highways with a tendency to shift beyond the boundaries of intensive urban development. 2.1 Characteristics of operations for sale goods. Methods sales goods Sale goods- final stage...

Retailing refers to any activity that sells goods or services directly to final consumers for their personal non-commercial use.

Retail trade enterprises can be classified according to such criteria as product specialization, forms of service, types and price levels, the composition of the contingent of consumers served, the nature of the location, etc.

By product specialization, there are:

1) mixed enterprises trading in both food and non-food products;

2) specialized, the assortment of which consists of goods of one commodity group;

3) highly specialized, their range includes separate subgroups of product groups;

4) combined, selling goods of several groups related in their consumer purpose;

5) universal, having the widest possible range of product groups (department stores, supermarkets, hypermarkets).

According to the forms of service, self-service enterprises, service through the counter, through catalogs, by mail, and various combinations of these methods are distinguished.

According to their functional features, enterprises can be divided into stationary, mobile, seasonal, parcel, commission.

According to the types and features of the device, enterprises are divided into shops, warehouse stores, pavilions, tents, auto shops, etc.

Classification by price level is caused by a sharp differentiation in the monetary incomes of the population, therefore the behavior of the pricing policy is aimed at a certain group of buyers:

- enterprises with a fairly low level of prices, serving a wide variety of consumer groups;

- enterprises with an average price level serving a wide variety of consumer groups;

- enterprises with the highest level of prices for goods sold and the corresponding level of service for buyers with high income levels.

By the nature of the location, enterprises are distinguished located in places of citywide significance, at railway stations, in a place of rest, etc.

Depending on the predominant contingent of consumers served, enterprises for children, women, youth and enterprises that reflect any interest of buyers (“Gardener”, “Hunting”, etc.) are singled out.

In modern conditions, new forms of retail trade are emerging: the emergence of specialized stores, sale at a discount from the price, non-store trade and consolidated trade.

Demographic changes have led to market fragmentation, with consumers preferring brand names and a large selection of specialty stores.

In this regard, specialty retailing is emerging, in which stores offer a limited number of product ranges with great depth.

Great attention to the quality of goods led to the emergence of trade with discounts from the price, in which well-known brands are offered at significantly lower prices.

Recently, there has been an increasing trend towards non-store sales, which means any method of selling to the final consumer outside the store (sale through catalogs, at customers' homes, via vending machines, by telephone or using computer systems).

Limited population growth means fewer buyers in the long run; Smaller and more specialized stores need to be created to meet the needs of more discerning and wealthier consumers. Consolidated retail allows you to reduce the number of product groups and slow down the expansion of the network of new stores.

Retail stores can be divided into non-food and food stores, which are grouped depending on the level of service, prices, variety of product ranges and depth of assortment, as well as the size of the store (Table 16)

Table 16

Types of Non-Food and Food Stores

Developing a retail strategy involves the following steps:

1. Identification of opportunities in the retail environment. This applies to factors related to consumers, competition, technology, government regulation, the environment and the state of the economy.

2. Formulating retail goals. Should be broad enough to define the company's strategy in the form of a mission statement, and specific enough to measure store performance.

3. Development of retail strategies. First of all, strategies are developed at the corporate level (if this applies to large retailers), then specific strategies are developed at the store level.

4. Identification of target segments and positioning of stores. It is necessary to take into account the demographic criteria and lifestyle characteristics of buyers.

5. Evaluation and control. Company-level performance is assessed by comparing results against forecasted sales and ROI. At the store level, actual and projected sales are compared for each department and product line. Control problems are associated with wastage of goods, the use of sales space, insufficient turnover and excess goods.