Retail. Project approach to changing the sales management system

The current situation in retail trade

In modern business, especially in small enterprises, as well as in the trade sector, the marketing manager is in direct contact with the director of the company, who often has the vaguest idea about marketing. Convincing a director to carry out any marketing activities can be quite difficult. That is why knowledge and use of the most advanced trade marketing technologies is so important.

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 client’s needs.

According to official circles, today there are 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. Moscow's stationary retail network serves the city's population of 10,990 thousand people. The actual provision of the city with retail space (253 m2 per 1 thousand 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 founded 2-3 years ago and continue to develop. These are the following chain stores: Paterson (3), Ramstore (5), Perekrestok (21), BIN (8), Seventh Continent (11), Dixie (12), Avoska "(4), "Kopeyka" (18), "Capital" (12), "Fragrant World" (5), "Magnolia" (2), "London Bridge Supermarkets" (3), "ProdMak" (8) and etc.1

A significant 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 buyer. With a huge concentration of stores, it becomes increasingly difficult to retain the buyer, to create such conditions that he would not have the desire to look at the store opposite. If you lose just one customer, the store can suffer significant losses and lose additional income. A study of the German consumer market allows us to clearly assess what the damage could be. A customer leaves 63 thousand stamps in a department store over the course of his life. If you offend him, he will not appear in this supermarket for 10 years. The numbers make you think2.

In Russia the situation is significantly different. The peculiarity of the Russian market is its extreme lack of saturation. A store with normal prices and assortment is simply doomed to success. According to Western experts, we actually have no competition, there is no focus on the buyer, and marketers are mastering extensive methods of attracting buyers. That is, they are hired not by the quality of service and retaining the client for as long as possible, but by disseminating information to a larger number of potential clients. All efforts are aimed at ensuring that the buyer gets to the store at any cost, even if it is located at the other end of Moscow. “The Seventh Continent”, “Perekrestok”, “Ramstore” spend huge sums on advertising in the press and on radio to attract new customers.

But the loss of a buyer does not yet hurt our pockets, as it does in the West, where the margin is virtually reduced to zero. Therefore, quality of service is not task No. 1. However, the situation is changing every day.

The advantage of a chain of stores is 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 unified network management, which includes modern automation methods and a high level of organization. In our country, networks are only called networks. In fact, there is simply no unified management.

On the other hand, such network management in the current conditions could harm Russian trade. If the management in one store is not very streamlined, 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 is owned mainly by 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 rosy. The main problems are the small size of domestic networks and the lack of free financial resources for tactical maneuver.

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

Merchandising

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

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

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. Products can be placed at floor, hand and eye level (the best position is at hand and eye level). When arranging products, 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 horizontal or vertical layout. When displaying, 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 sales floor begins with clarifying and detailing 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 product items that bring maximum profit. This allows you to highlight the zones of the most effective arrangement of goods on the sales floor, taking into account the psychology of consumer demand.

There are some general principles for the placement of product groups and the layout of retail equipment. The space in the sales area is not equivalent in terms of sales volume per 1 m2. Their importance decreases as customer flows move from the store entrance towards the opposite wall. About 40% of the store’s total turnover is realized in the area adjacent to the entrance. The next most important zone gives 30% of sales, and the subsequent ones - 20% and 10%, respectively. Redistributing groups of goods in the hall taking into account these circumstances allows you to increase turnover.

Observations show that most customers, when entering a confined space of a store, begin to walk around it, moving from right to left. Based on this, the placement of the entrance to the store should be thought out (entrance is on the right, exit is on the left) and the placement of the shelves themselves. A trendy walkway, or “perimeter aisle,” was created where shelves with particularly enticing products are located, as well as promotional new products and products that have a relatively short lifespan and 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 sales floor and only 40-50% of buyers bypass the inner rows.

Approximately 60% of the retail space must be left for customer traffic to make them feel comfortable.

In the zone of intensive trade, goods are located that provide greater profits, are most attractive to buyers and are characterized by rapid turnover. It is in this area that the route for customers to move around the sales floor should begin. Finally, in areas where the influx of shoppers is not so intense, it is wise to locate everyday goods. Movement 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 sales of other products located next to them, but which do not have such attractive power.

The distance between departments and shelves is also thought out, so that at shelves with highly profitable goods, customers can calmly, without jostling, select goods.

The route offered to customers through the store should be coherent, smooth, enjoyable and efficient. The buyer should not pass by the same place twice. Accessible signs and clear markings should make it easy to locate goods. At the same time, in order to change the usual route of movement around 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 sales floor in consumer complexes. This principle means placing interrelated groups of goods in one area. The layout of the trading floor based on the formation of consumer complexes stimulates impulse purchases.

Systematization of the main groups of goods into consumer complexes and their schematic placement throughout the sales area is the first and indispensable condition for constructing a concept for customer service in a store. In fact, this is a draft version of the future arrangement of commercial equipment.

With the advent of new information technologies, a more scientific substantiation of some classical principles of placement of product groups and 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 using the example of a hardware complex with supporting software called “InfoBoard”3.

Communication devices are installed in the carts, and the sales area is equipped with receivers and transmitters. Receivers are positioned to monitor critical areas of the sales floor.

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

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

• calculate the real need for trolleys;
• establish average trajectories of customer movement in the sales area;
• identify the percentage of traffic for each product group;
• set the average time for making a purchase in different areas of the hall.

Such thermograms are built according to trading periods and are very helpful in understanding how to build logistics for supplying goods to the store at different times. Analysis of these parameters provides important information for marketers, which allows optimizing the distribution of assortment on the sales floor (Fig. 1, 2).

Effective presentation of goods on the sales 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 research, micromarketing can increase turnover by 5% and the number of items sold by 60%.

Thus, buyers are more willing to choose goods whose price 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.

In micromarketing, methods based on automated trading systems have recently become more and more popular. Paper sales announcements are gradually being replaced by electronics, with the help of which the issue of supporting sales promotions is resolved. Various kinds of information boards, electronic price tags buzz, flash in all sorts of colors and thus invite the buyer to the product. In Russia, the use of electronic price tags is still problematic, since according to our laws, the price tag must have the signature of the responsible person.

Electronic displays attached to carts work well. When the cart enters a certain area, this display displays information using sound and color effects that there is a product offered at an exclusive price in the immediate vicinity.

Picture 1

Trajectory of consumer flows

Figure 2

Time to make a purchase

Discount programs

One of the effective sales management tools is the use of discount cards. All trading cards work within the framework of 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 are quite simple. The income part is formed by increasing turnover, the expenditure part is due to the issuance of discounts. The store can set other goals for issuing trading cards, for example, image-related, convenience of settlements with the client, research of purchasing activity, etc.

The whole variety of trading cards comes down to two models of their functioning: payment and customer loyalty schemes. There is also a mixed scheme.

Payment cards can operate both under a prepayment scheme and under a deferred payment scheme. When customers use prepaid cards, the determining factor is the ability to receive discounts.

The customer's 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 payment transactions have been collected from all point of sale terminals or registers.

A prepaid card allows you to set a discount scale depending on the balance on your card account - the higher the balance, the greater the discount. This type of discount scheme encourages the buyer to replenish his account more often, or rather, to keep a sufficiently large amount in his account, and this is beneficial to the store.

The classic loyalty scheme consists of 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 within a certain time. Otherwise, they “burn out” and everything must be started again.

An example is the bonus system, popular in the Czech Republic. Immediately after paying at the cash register, the buyer goes to a special machine - a “bond 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 accumulated for purchases and a list of products 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 issuing an initial discount to the buyer for the period of accumulation of bonuses, and increasing the amount of the discount as they accumulate.

This is how, for example, the customer loyalty program works in the Arbat Prestige perfume and cosmetics store. The cost of purchased goods accumulates on the card account. The system operates 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 a regular card, which he receives when purchasing 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 discount level. 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 if he has purchased goods in a given store for a certain amount, usually quite large. Discounts range from 5% to 10% and are valid for the entire validity period of the card. Often the card is not limited to any validity period and is not personal (it is issued to the bearer). This is done for obvious reasons: these types of goods are bought relatively rarely, so a low-cost mechanism for attracting new customers is needed. Holders of such cards, by transferring their cards to others, essentially become agents of the store. As an example, we can name trading cards of the companies “Party” and “M-Video”.

With the fourth form of loyalty, the price of the card depends on the duration of its validity. Usually the card is issued for a year. It can also be in bearer form. This form is often used by food retail stores. The disadvantage of this type of card is that customers do not really like to give money up front and then “return” 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 card expiration dates and interest is posted for everyone to see. The buyer is asked to buy a 5 percent card for 30 days, choose 10 percent discounts for six months, etc.

Perhaps it is for marketing reasons that loyalty schemes with bonuses are more common abroad. They solve the main problem of loyalty schemes - they tie the client to a given store and stimulate him to increase the volume of his purchases. In addition, bonus schemes make it easy to supplement them with services not related to the main activities of the 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 its cards you can get discounts in the Tekhnosila chain of stores.

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

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

The most effective and simple 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 out items that alarm him. This partially relieves the tension characteristic of the Russian mentality. This method of distributing discount cards clearly shows that information costs money and that it is very important.

Self-service

The most effective system for working with customers, 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 product; it is more of a marketing ploy. Self-service provides a different kind of benefit - greater customer satisfaction. The buyer regards the expansion of opportunities to serve himself as an increase in trust on the part of the store and always evaluates it positively.

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

The thought immediately arises of the huge losses that self-service stores incur. Western supermarkets have losses, but nevertheless thrive. It is reported that random inspections are possible to combat theft, but in reality this is almost never done. The philosophy of many Western companies boils down to the fact that it is better to let one thief through than to offend an honest customer.

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

To combat theft, both traditional and modern methods of protection are actively used. Traditional video surveillance systems cannot detect theft in real time in 95% of cases - people quickly get tired of watching the monitors. In a modern self-service store, they are installed to combat thefts committed by staff. Increasing the number of security personnel requires additional costs and discourages buyers. Monitoring the goods of sellers distracts them from their direct responsibilities, 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 (label or tag) attached to the protected product. Detection occurs in the field between the antenna frames located on the border of the protected area.

The problem of optimizing the payment process for goods leads the list of other problems by a large margin. However, the classic self-service accepted everywhere is only half that. The buyer moves freely around the store, selects goods into the cart himself, approaches the cash register... This is where all his problems begin. Constant crowding around the cash register, especially during rush hours, narrow aisles, long lines, paying with the cashier, waiting for money to be transferred when using a credit card, receiving a check, transferring goods from the conveyor. It is difficult to call this process “self-service”.

They are constantly trying to return to the issue of buyers’ self-payment. This problem has not yet been resolved in the West, much less 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 company manager found an effective solution to the problem and introduced a self-scanning complex for regular, “trusted” customers. The application of this complex can be briefly described as follows.

Stage 1. The buyer undergoes identification by installing the payment card in a special reader rack. In this case, the system sets the maximum amount for the supply 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 body, he can consume products with significant restrictions).

Stage 2. The buyer selects goods from the shelves while simultaneously reading barcodes from the packages using a personal scanner. The electronic display of the device displays the name of the product, as well as its price. With each newly selected item, the current purchase amount is automatically adjusted via a wireless communication line with the store’s general computer system. Note that if there is information in the database about the buyer’s individual intolerance to certain ingredients, the system automatically warns him when he tries to buy goods where the corresponding ingredients are used.

Stage 3. When leaving the store, the procedure for writing off the amount corresponding to his purchase from the buyer’s payment card is automatically initiated (by contacting the processing center), and a standard cash register 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 product properties for the buyer;
• correspondence of the purchase amount to the buyer’s account balance;
• automatic calculations after the fact.

Conclusion

In the West, the retail market today is characterized by insignificant growth, a price war, and, as a result, low profits, the size of which is steadily declining. The same trend is beginning to appear 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 those companies that continually respond 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 competitive advantage No. 1.

Valery Velikanov, fourth year student at the Institute of Service Economics

* Based on materials from a report made at the II All-Russian Scientific and Practical Conference “Problems of Practical Marketing in the Service Sphere” - 2001.

1. Based on materials from the international conference “Organization of retail chains: global experience and Russian characteristics.” Moscow, 2000.
2. Magazine "Commerce Equipment", December, 2000, No. 12, p. 67
3. Magazine "Commercial Equipment", January 2001, No. 1, p. 68.
4. Magazine "Commerce Equipment", December, 2000, No. 12, p. 68
5. Magazine "Trade Technologies", January 2001, No. 1, p. 64.

Reading Habr, I see many excellent articles written from the position of a specialist. Much fewer articles are published describing 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, during the New Year holidays the idea occurred to me that readers of the hub might be interested in an article about why such a tool as analytical CRM might be needed, and what it can give to a specific manager.

Description of the situation

A few words about myself

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

• let it be as it is;
• micromanage;
• is engaged in improving sales management processes.

• track task completion;
• keep statistics;
• effectively maintain a balance of employee efforts between the tasks of selling, collecting receivables and maintaining good personal contact with clients.

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

Project planning

• Increase sales in a year by more than 30%. Criterion - shipment data.
• Implementation of CRM. The criterion is the ability to use information about the history of relationships with clients to make management 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 and are afraid of the process of change.
• Employees’ reluctance to learn new things is often caused not so much by their laziness, but by the fact that the result of their usual 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 require him 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.

• Complete 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 costs for CRM should not exceed 100 tr.
• When choosing a system, you need to put in the lion's share of the effort yourself, because... the end user of the system is my employees and myself.
• The speed of work in the new conditions will increase approximately to the previous level, no earlier than 3-4 months after the start of the changes.
• It is expensive/time-consuming to train/buy a seller; it is cheaper to reduce the number of his potential mistakes.

• Purchasing crm
• Improvement of crm
• Costs for additional employee motivation

• shipping regulations;
• regulations for working with accounts receivable;
• product presentation script;
• cross-selling script;
• script for handling objections.

Required Tools

Go/No-Go Decision

Start of the project

Development of analytical CRM

System selection and configuration

• localization;
• simplicity of the interface (ease of use for sellers);
• functional logic;
• the ability to customize using the CRM itself;
• cost of an hour of rework;
• presence of a community of users.

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

Training, preparation and launch of the system

results

• A unified system was introduced that automates sales business processes (maintaining information on clients, monitoring the implementation of the sales plan, automating the work of sales representatives, etc.).
• All sales business processes have become 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 employee actions lead to results and which do not.
• Clients stopped depending on managers; in the event of a particular person’s illness, his scheduled contacts were transferred to another manager. The statistics system made it possible to distribute work more evenly among managers, and their quality of work began to improve.
• The schedule built into the system did not allow us to forget about the purpose of the contact. Its integration into the client profile made it possible to update information about the state of affairs.
• The frequency of customer orders has increased, and the average order amount has increased.
• Reducing the time spent searching for information allowed managers to promote priority products/brands, which led to additional sales.
• I got rid of the need to summarize data from 1C into reporting in Excel.
• By setting time limits on information input (the employee must report on the results of work for the week before 14:00 Friday), I received timely monitoring of the 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 sector of consumer cooperation, which is due to its share in the total volume of activity of the system and the functions performed. The material basis for the development of retail trade is commodity resources. The sources of supply of commodity resources to the retail trade of consumer cooperation are varied and specific. Their optimal combination makes it possible to establish rational economic relations with suppliers to more fully meet the demand of the population served and the efficient functioning of retail trade. Improving the structure of sources of receipt of commodity resources in retail trade of consumer cooperation assumes an optimal combination of intra-system and extra-system sources of receipt. At the same time, the most important task is to increase the share of its 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 trade management depends on the speed of response to a problem situation and the validity of management decisions at the operational level, since processes aimed at purchasing and selling goods are implemented by organizations every day 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 enterprises, the fulfillment of plans for the sale of goods, maximizing profits and, ultimately, the implementation of the social mission of consumer cooperation.

I set a goal to analyze the management of the organization of retail sales of goods using the example of Oberon LLC, one of the stores of the Samberi LLC chain.

The following tasks follow from this goal: to define the concept of retail trade, to classify methods of retail sales of goods, to identify trends in the development of retail trade, to determine the influence of the store’s planning solution and the principles of display of goods on sales efficiency, to analyze the sales promotion methods used by the store.

When writing the course work, 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 contains 2 drawings and 3 formulas.

When writing the course work, 23 literary sources were used.

In my course work, I used research methods such as synthesis (a method consisting of combining individual 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 sales of goods

1.1 Retail

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

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

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

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

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

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

Sales area;

Number of product items;

Level of customer service;

Product placement technology.

There are the following retail trade formats:

Discounter;

Convenience store;

Supermarket;

Hypermarket;

To the supermarket;

Department store;

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

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

But trade margins are not the only source of income for retail. Retail also makes money from advertising, holding promotional events, and selling retail space and shelf space. In order for a product (this is typical for food trade) to be sold in any of the Russian networks, it is necessary to pay a special “bonus for entering the network.” In this way, operators of this market increase the profitability of their business.

1.2 Features of the functioning of retail trade

A retail trade network is classified according to two criteria: stationarity and product assortment profile. Based on the first criterion, the retail trade network is divided into:

stationary (shops);

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

mobile (delivery and distribution).

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 certain subgroups and types of goods);

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

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

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

In order to actively compete with non-store sales, the general operating principles of a retail chain should be:

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

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

formation of retail chains, large universal retail enterprises, shopping centers and shopping complexes;

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

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

allocation of special areas 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 model of trade services must provide a variety of structural and functional parameters of retail facilities and always be focused on specific areas of trade services.

The diversity of retail trade enterprises from the perspective 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 retail trade enterprises.

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 an enterprise that is not affiliated with any association. A store owned by a commodity manufacturer or wholesale organization always operates as part of the corresponding company and is therefore dependent. A municipal retail facility is, as a rule, a socially oriented retail trade enterprise that complements the system of trade services that has developed within the municipality.

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

local stores;

stores of system-wide importance;

stores within shopping centers;

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 system-wide importance is more diverse, so they should include specialized and department stores, stores with a combined range of goods.

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

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

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

By product specialization there are:

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

2) specialized, the range of which consists of goods of one product 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).

Based on the forms of service, a distinction is made between self-service enterprises, service over the counter, through catalogs, by mail, and various combinations of these methods.

Based on their functional characteristics, enterprises can be divided into stationary, mobile, seasonal, parcel, and commission.

According to the types and features of the structure, 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 income of the population, therefore the behavior of the pricing policy is aimed at a certain group of buyers:

– enterprises with fairly low 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 an appropriate level of service for customers with a high level of income.

Based on the nature of their location, a distinction is made between enterprises located in places of citywide significance, at train stations, in recreational areas, 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 distinguished.

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

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

In this regard, specialized retail trade arises, in which stores offer a limited number of product assortments with greater depth.

Great attention to the quality of goods has led to the emergence of discount trading, in which well-known brands are offered at significantly lower prices.

Recently, there has been an increasing trend of non-store sales, which refers to any method of selling to the end consumer outside of a store (selling through catalogues, in customers' homes, through vending machines, over the telephone or using computer systems).

Limited population growth means fewer buyers in the long term; Smaller and more specialized stores are needed to meet the demands of more discerning and wealthier consumers. Consolidated retail trade makes it possible to reduce the number of product groups and slow down the expansion of a 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 assortments and depth of assortment, as well as store size (Table 16)

Table 16

Types of non-food and grocery stores

Developing a retail strategy involves the following stages:

1. Identifying opportunities in retail environments. This includes factors related to consumers, competition, technology, government regulation, the environment and the economy.

2. Formulation of retail goals. Should be broad enough to define the company's strategy through its mission and specific enough to measure store performance.

3. Development of retail strategies. First, 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. Assessment and control. Company-level performance is assessed by comparing results to projected sales and return on investment. At the store level, actual and forecast sales figures are compared for each department and product range. Control problems relate to wastage, space utilization, insufficient turnover and excess inventory.