The Ministry of Industry and Trade is concerned about how large retail chains are killing small retail. Military pensioners for Russia and its armed forces How retail chains are killing small businesses

The government decree of April 9, 2016 approved the rules according to which the regions must calculate the standards for the minimum provision of the population with retail space. However, the regional authorities took the instruction wrong, it follows from the letter from the Ministry of Industry and Trade. The ministry explains how the word “minimal” should be interpreted using bold type.

“I would like to draw your attention to the fact that the standards establish the minimum permissible amount shopping facilities, that is, they determine the lower thresholds for the provision of the population with trade, "the letter says (a copy is available from Gazeta.Ru), where the last five words, as well as the words" minimum allowable amount "are highlighted in bold. The document signed by Deputy Minister Viktor Yevtukhov was sent according to the list to the executive authorities of all regions (85 addresses in total).

The demand and need for retail facilities of any format is determined solely by the willingness of the business to create new facilities.

The use of minimum standards as a justification for reducing existing or preventing the opening of new retail facilities, especially small formats, is unacceptable, the letter says.

As an additional incentive, the Ministry of Industry and Trade indicates that the degree of exceeding the regulatory minimum in the field of trade will be one of the criteria for assessing the performance of regional authorities.

Diversity is important for consumer comfort and production development trade formats, Viktor Evtukhov commented on his letter to Gazeta.Ru. He noted that "a huge number of manufacturers will not develop at the expense of networks alone", for this not all have the necessary capacities, "format" goods, market weight in order to negotiate supplies with networks.

Small shops, bazaars and fairs are important as a distribution channel for farmers. “This is an absolutely inadequate situation when for a manufacturer in some municipality there is not enough space at the fair,” he says indignantly.

The government decree on minimum standards established clear rules for the formation of a multi-format trade infrastructure in the regions, Yevtukhov emphasized. “In the near future we will supplement them with the standards of the minimum provision of the population trading places on the sale of foodstuffs in retail markets, ”the Deputy Minister promised.

These standards will take into account the specificity of the territory, including climatic and geographical features. “This should stop the downsizing of small and non-stationary retail facilities and give producers additional distribution channels,” he said.

Expansion of networks

In practice, the presence of small business in retail trade continues to decline - it is being replaced by large retail chains, which continue to increase their presence in the regions during the crisis.

Turnover retail in Russia continued to fall in the first half of 2016: according to Rosstat, the fall was 5.7%. Meanwhile, the revenue growth rate of the largest chains remains at a high level. So, X5 Retail Group announced an increase in revenues for the first half of 26.3%. The main contribution was made by the expansion of the Pyaterochka economy-class retail chain - in the second quarter alone, X5 opened 539 such new stores.

Lenta's revenue in the first half of 2016 increased by 21.9%, including due to the opening of new hyper and supermarkets. The Dixy chain also increased its revenue by 20.2% over this period. In the first half of the year, "Magnit" gained almost 15% more than in the same period last year, expanded its network by almost 800 new stores, and in August announced the opening of new hypermarkets. She opened new discounters and the O "Kay" chain, increasing revenue by 10.1%.

Retail collusion

Rosstat provides information on retail trade turnover without breakdown by segments and trade formats, but highlights the share of retail markets and fairs. From year to year, it has been steadily decreasing - from 10.4% in June 2012, it has already fallen to 7% in June 2016. In the capital, the share of fairs is above the national average, but it is also decreasing faster - from 15.5% in June 2015, it decreased over the year to 12.3%.

“We do not have accurate statistics, but the fact that large chains are actively attacking small retail, small and medium-sized, is a fact,” says Alexander Zharkov, chairman of the board of the Moscow branch of Opora Rossii.

Formally, regional governments, of course, do not support the development of networks at the expense of small businesses, but officials are often convinced that networks pay more taxes and are easier to work with, says a public figure.

“I am a member of the Commission on Small Retail and I see how, thanks to the lobbying of chains, the government is raising the issue of relocating small retail facilities, for example, further from chain stores. This applies to the same ice cream kiosks, but the motivation is that this product is already in chain stores, "- cites Zharkov as an example.

In general, many small shops have closed in Moscow in recent years, retail chains clearly dominate in residential areas, he continues. In other regions, the trends are similar, and there chains are killing small retail even faster. As a result, the state may face sad consequences, warns Zharkov: first of all, prices will rise, since several large players find it easier to come to terms with each other than hundreds of small outlets. The quality of the product can also suffer.

While large federal chains continue to expand, medium and regional ones are shrinking, says Vladlen Maksimov, president of the Coalition of Kioskers.

“They complain that they receive goods from suppliers at the prices that are in federal retail chains,” he says. And administrative pressure continues on small retail in different regions. The most difficult situation is now in the Kaluga region, in Lipetsk, Maksimov notes.

“They say the same thing: appearance bad. Of course, it’s bad if people don’t have firm rights, ”he says indignantly.

In a crisis, it can be natural process, believes the director of the Union independent networks Sergey Kuznetsov. “In an unfavorable economic situation, the market is consolidating. The strongest companies increase their share even in a falling market at the expense of the weaker ones that leave, ”he says.

But the Russian retail market itself is still at the stage of formation, the share of network retail in Russia is now about 50%, and in developed markets it is higher.

Therefore, this process is rather normal, but the state must ensure that it does not create advantages for one or another player, the expert concludes.

• Efimov Oleg Nikolaevich, Candidate of Science, Associate Professor of the Department of Economics and Management
• Mayorov Maxim Yurievich,
• Russian the University of Economics named after G.V. Plekhanov

• SMALL BUSINESS
• ECONOMY
• BUSINESS
• MARKET
• ECONOMIC POLICY
• SHOPPING CHAINS
• RETAILERS

The article discusses the problem of crowding out small trading business retail chains in large cities, its causes, forms of manifestation. The reasons for the phenomenon under study are revealed, ways of solving the identified problems are proposed.

• Actual problems of state support for small business in the regional economy

In the 1990s, after the collapse of the USSR, many realized that it was much easier to trade than to produce anything, and that the economic policy pursued by the state made it possible for everyone who wanted and had at least some capital to start their own business.

If at first the process of development of trade was in a very active state (shuttle business became widespread, a huge number of various stalls began to appear), then today the phase of enlargement and consolidation of trading capacities has begun, which corresponds to many theories of cooperation.

It is becoming increasingly difficult for small businesses to survive in large cities and make a profit in the competitive environment of retail chains. And in connection with these conditions that have developed in the market recently, small business is in dire need of government support.

Therefore, in the 1990s, when, as it now seems, the time for small business was almost ideal, employment in it remained practically unchanged, amounting to about 6 million people (less than 10 percent of the number of people employed in the economy).

The protracted economic downturn has not fueled small business growth, even though regulation is liberal by today's standards.

But the first half of the 2000s became a "golden" time for small businesses. The economy grew by 6-8 percent. per year, demand increased rapidly in all sectors. In 2003-2004 alone, the number of small businesses increased by 16 percent, employment in them - by 8 percent, and revenue - by 57 percent. (adjusted for inflation). The number of individual entrepreneurs (IE) reached 4.8 million (6.7 percent of the economically active population). Over nine years of solid economic growth (1999-2007), employment in small businesses increased by a third, to almost 13 percent. from the number of people employed in the economy. It remains at this level even now (13.7 percent).

A strong impetus for development was given by the rapid spread of large retail chains across the territory of the Russian Federation, as well as the increasing availability of modern trade formats, such as supermarkets, hypermarkets (stores with a very large area and with a very wide product range), Convenience stores and online stores.

Price differences are becoming less noticeable, the role of the Internet and advertising is growing very quickly, and buyers are getting used to the all-in-one format.

The average annual income of a Russian in 2013 was about 250 thousand rubles. The consumer lending market is developing, which has almost doubled since 2007.

Over time, consumers are becoming more demanding and modern, this primarily concerns residents of large cities, where the level of service and technology penetration is much higher than in the regions.

Trade networks are rapidly developing and will continue to develop in almost all major cities of the Russian Federation. This means that small businesses will have less and less chance of any success in the market.

The importance and importance of small and medium-sized businesses in the economy of the Russian Federation are often underestimated and put them on the sidelines, paying more attention to the problems of large business.

But the main indicators in these areas, such as the number of jobs and revenue, are very solid figures, even on the scale of the economy as a whole.

* Excluding individual entrepreneurs registered before 2004 (about 1.4 million)

** Up to 15 people employed, revenue up to 60 million rubles.

*** Up to 100 people employed, revenue up to 400 million rubles.

**** Up to 250 people employed, revenue up to 1 billion rubles.

***** For 2011

A source: Rosstat, NISIPP

Large foreign retailers are very cautious about entering the regions and mainly capture the market of Moscow and St. Petersburg. Domestic networks are already firmly entrenched in all cities with a population of over one million in the country.

On the background trading giants networks such as MediaMarkt, Auchan, Okay, M-Video and similar networks, small businesses seem deliberately unsuccessful and marginal.

Small business loses to large competitors due to economies of scale, since with an increase in volumes, costs per unit of goods decrease, and this effect has only intensified lately. Large retailers are crowding out small businesses in the same way that large factories once crowded out handicrafts.

Small businesses are very sensitive to the country's business climate. Bureaucracy in paperwork, various barriers to market entry, high tax rates and any other imperfections in the business climate are felt by small businesses much more sharply than medium or large ones.

Entrepreneurs know better than anyone the challenges they face when doing business.

* The amount exceeds 100 percent: you could choose up to 3 answer options.

** As part of a parallel survey conducted by OPORA, enterprise managers also called high electricity tariffs and the difficulty of connecting to energy facilities, access to land plots and industrial premises, burdensome customs procedures, high administrative barriers, corruption in access to government orders.

A source:"Support", 2012

Although small business weathered the financial crisis of 2008-2009 quite well, having increased its revenue by 7% in 2010 after falling by 17% in 2009, now it is only a dream of such growth rates. The stagnation in growth was the result of unintentional government mistakes and a deterioration in the business climate. The cessation of the growth of small business is an unforeseen consequence of political decisions, the tightening of regulation of the economy.

Stagnation has been going on for several years. In 2012, the revenue of small businesses (adjusted for inflation) decreased by 2.4 percent, employment and the number of small businesses stopped growing. From April 2012 to March 2013, the number of small businesses per 100 thousand people decreased by 2.8 percent. Small business turnover in the first half of 2013 remained at the level of the previous year (adjusted for inflation, this means an actual decline in revenue). The number of entrepreneurs seeing new opportunities for organizing a company has also decreased. In 2011, such was, according to the "Global Entrepreneurship Monitor" (GEM), 40 percent, and in 2012 - only 30 percent.

According to Rosstat, retail trade turnover in the Russian Federation in 2012 amounted to 21.32 trillion rubles. (+ 5.9% to 2011). Of these, food retail accounted for 9.9 trillion. rubles, the remaining 11.4 trillion. rub. - to trade in non-food products. The aggregate revenue of the ten largest food retailers at the end of 2012 accounted for 19.5% of the retail trade turnover - 1.9 trillion. rubles, follows from the top-10 rating, compiled by the Infoline agency.

Largest Russian food retailers at the end of 2012

Having studied such statistics, it becomes clear that trade enterprises small businesses cannot compete with the giants of the market on the same level. And since everything looks so hopeless, is it worth thinking about small business at all?

What to do? The level of development of small business is not a secondary, but the most important indicator characterizing the development of a competitive economy. It can also serve as an indicator of how well or poorly competition is developed in the country, how much it is generally suitable for doing any business.

What needs to be done to increase the share of small business in the country's economy and prevent small trading business from being crowded out by retail chains in large cities?

In general, small business objectively loses to retail chains due to the incomparability of opportunities, however, in this situation, there are market niches for it too.

First of all, these are small shops "within walking distance" for everyday goods, for the sake of which there is no need to go to a hypermarket or walk an extra 100-200 meters to the nearest large chain retailer.

Competitive advantages and advantages can be fresh products of local producers, a "home" atmosphere, a favorite opportunity for many to go shopping, so to speak, in slippers (due to the proximity of the store).

Attention should be paid to such a low-cost reserve for the development of small business as insurance against all kinds of risks. They can be:

loan default insurance;

insurance of accounts receivable of an enterprise or entrepreneur;

insurance against the risk of loss of ownership (title insurance);

insurance of damage from stoppage of production (activity);

insurance financial risks related to activities key figure business;

accumulative life insurance of the founder of the business or his closest deputies,.

And, of course, it is worth paying attention to the development of Internet commerce, for which the existence of large players with a huge assortment of goods on display is even a plus, since the buyer, before purchasing a product on the Internet, first carefully examines it in the store, and only then buys it on the Internet. -shop at a lower price. In this case, the costs are borne by shopping centers, and the proceeds go to the owners of online stores.

But what will it be the best way coexistence of large and small businesses in the future, only time will tell.

Bibliography

1. Global Entrepreneurship Monitoring. National Report Russia 2012. GEM, Graduate School of Management, St. Petersburg State University (http://www.gsom.spbu.ru/files/upload/research/gem/gem_full_13.pdf).
2. Dynamics of development of small business in the regions of Russia in 2002-2004. M., 2005 (http://www.nisse.ru/netcat_files/176/136/h_82f76a298f1719ee40a67170f5a18694).
3. Dynamics of small business development in the regions of Russia in January — March 2013. National Institute systemic research of entrepreneurship problems. Quarterly information and analytical report. M., 2013 (http://www.nisse.ru/netcat_files/176/136/h_b6120b9cb80b67839ac7f1ffe822051b).
4. Efimov, O. N. Insurance under the insurance law. Tutorial(supplement to the bachelor's degree program) / O. N. Efimov. - LAP LAMBERT Academic Publishing GmbH & Co. KG, Heinrich-Böcking-Str. 6-8, 66121 Saarbrucken, Germany, printed in Russia, 2012, 685 pp.
5. Efimov, O. N. The newest insurance in the laws. Monograph / O. N. Efimov. - Science Book Publishing House, Yelm, WA, USA, 2013 .-- 484 p.
6. Zubarevich N. Regional Labor Markets in Russia: The Similarity of the Dissimilar. What determines employment in small business // Demoscope Weekly. 2008. S. 337-338 (http://demoscope.ru/weekly/2008/0337/tema06.php).
7. Socio-economic situation in Russia - 2013 Jan.-Aug. Institutional transformation. Small enterprises (without micro-enterprises) // Rosstat. http://www.gks.ru/bgd/regl/b13_01/IssWWW.exe/Stg/d08/2-3-2.htm

On TV, our president talks about support for medium and small businesses, but in reality it turns out that all small businesses are being killed in the bud. Sobyanin decided to play high, if you want to sell shirts or cigarettes, build a hypermarket.
On June 1, the fourth mobilization began, the elimination of kiosks in Moscow crossings. Going down into the passage, I saw something like that ...

While driving to work I was thinking. After all, on the one hand, small businesses are really being killed, where will thousands of these people now go to work?
Few people know how much rent a tent now costs. And rent is not cheap now, as always everything depends on the area, for example, on Tverskaya - 300 thousand per month, on Akademicheskaya 170 thousand, if you rent at Gardener - then open tent will cost you 400 thousand, and at Cherkizovsky 230.

Five or seven years ago, in the transition, in six months it was possible to earn money for an apartment in Moscow. Daily earnings reached 30 thousand rubles, worked "in five ends", that is, with a 500% markup, but now if the revenue is only 1.5 thousand rubles. a day is already good, but who wants to work at 0? The time of big earnings in transitions has passed, and the problem is not only a drop in demand.

The most demanded goods in the crossings are clothes in the "Cherkizon" style. The Moscow government swept out the markets and street stalls, and it came to underground trade. For the chaos reigning there, Sergei Sobyanin even threatened to fire the head of Gormost - this department has a street subway on its balance sheet, and the metro exits are owned by Metropolitan, and this is by no means a small business. After that, two state-owned enterprises suddenly discovered that, it turns out, since the 1990s, they have been leasing transitions to developers at bargain prices, and those at exorbitant prices to small retail.

The intermediaries are 40 companies in the metro and 100 under the wing of "Gormost", they did not complain about life. Merchants got an area in the metro, on average, seven times more expensive than their city rented out. In 2012 - 12,725 rubles. against 1725 rubles. for 1 sq. m per month. When the departments decided to do without intermediaries, for example, in the Metropolitan, rent increased by an average of six times compared to 2012, and the margin of intermediaries shrank from 40% in 2012 to 14% in 2014. Prices for retailers have also increased.

"Gormost" went further. He increased prices by an average of 11.6 times, which turned out to be beyond the margin of profitability for many traders, and then he broke contracts with most management companies altogether. Several tenants have already lost the arbitration courts. So "Gormost" cut trade out of more than half of its crossings: 30 out of 86 remained, and 357 out of 1900 stalls in them.

Intermediaries are engaged not only in subleasing: in addition to the selection of tenants and control of their work, the duties of the management companies include security, cleaning, glass replacement, repair and deratization. Feeling that the clouds were gathering, they even began to invest in the reconstruction of the crossings. A Management Company Porthall has completed two points near the Tverskaya metro station social business"Avoska gives hope", for which the handicapped produce string bags, 5 thousand rubles each. for the pavilion and promised to find space for another 58 objects. But it was too late.

Gormost and Metropolitan undertook to perform the functions of management companies themselves. In addition to taking care of video surveillance and killing rats, Gormost independently reconstructs the vacated passages, while the Metropolitan itself develops a project for reconstructing old passages and launches newly built ones. Now there are fresh tiles, elevators, heated steps, a lot is planned - up to exhibitions of contemporary art. According to the plans of the Moscow Department of Trade, up to 1,500 vending machines will be installed there. For ordinary trade objects, the departments, together with the Moscow Architecture Committee, have developed a single stylistic solution. In the new stalls, fine-looking retail such as Intimissimi and Subway are expected, judging by one of the variants of the retail location concept (a list of desirable tenants, consisting entirely of large chains, was provided by one of the market participants). But those do not go. By the way, you can even go to Paveletskaya and see what curves and miserable new stalls have been installed.

Successful points in the crossings are the former "Cherkizon", the most demanded product is clothing. My friend, selling panties and nighties, bounced off the cash register at 170 thousand +/- 5 thousand. But 170 is just rent, and I have to work 7 days a week.

It remains to wait for high-quality retail. Indeed, in Europe and America, whole shopping centers operate in the crossings, this tradition was begun by Munich, having built cities underground for the 1972 Olympics. Why don't restaurants and boutiques work with us? However, the rental period in our crossings is a year minus one day, standard for non-stationary objects but unacceptable for serious companies.

It is hoped that networks formed in transitions will move into large formats. The size of such networks can even be difficult to determine: since the 1990s, they have grown to 15-20 points and even more. For example, a seller of flash drives, headphones, etc. "Miniport" has 60 points. Many work without a common sign and under several legal entities to stay within the framework of simplified taxation and diversify risks.

The massive closure of kiosks contradicts the promises of the authorities to promote the development of small business, and in the conditions of the economic crisis, it is the development of domestic trade that would make it possible to correct the potential negative effects: job cuts, growth of social tension. But apparently our authorities see everything differently. What do you think? Do these kiosks really need to be closed?

Every year it is more and more difficult for small St. Petersburg chains and individual grocery stores to compete with federal players. To survive, they are currently negotiating the creation of a single purchasing union, but large suppliers are hindering this in every possible way.

While there is no such center, large traders saw an opportunity to expand their sales markets in cooperation with local players. Wholesale departments of Lenta, Ryady Optical Club and METRO Cash and Carry are already supplying goods to stalls and small shops cheaper than wholesalers or manufacturers. And the owners of the St. Petersburg network "First Prize" became franchisees of the "Fasol" project German network METRO Cash and carry... In the fall of 2017, the company changed the signage at three of its six stores, and their revenue grew by 5-15%. The plans include further development under a foreign brand.

Found a sale

Fasol is a franchise project of the METRO Cash and Carry chain of stores for small and medium-sized businesses. Retailer helps owners grocery stores modernize the business, in return receiving a guaranteed distribution channel, since by purchasing a franchise, a small business undertakes to purchase a certain volume of goods from METRO.

Currently, there are 220 stores under the Fasol brand in Russia, of which 24 are in St. Petersburg and the Leningrad Region. More than 10 stores will open soon.

The partnership between First Prize and METRO Cash and Carry is the first time in St. Petersburg when a whole chain of stores has changed a brand. Previously, only individual entrepreneurs and shops of the "Products 24 hours" format. As the commercial director of the First Prize Sergei Gorchinenko told DP, since September last year the chain has converted three of the six stores into Fasol and is going to continue cooperation.

According to him, in the person of METRO Cash and Carry, "First Prize" has received a major partner, a wide range of products and good prices.

From despair

Compared to other Russian regions, the Beans project in St. Petersburg did not develop very actively. Experts associate this with high competition from federal networks. In St. Petersburg, more than 80% of retail turnover in the food segment is accounted for by chain retail, and it is formed by the top 10 retailers.

The number of small food retail facilities (non-stationary points or single stores retail space from 200 m2) is reduced. But the number of small specialized outlets selling baked goods, fruits, milk, etc. is growing, say InfoLine.

Several years ago, billionaires Dmitry Kostygin and August Meyer also relied on this audience, bringing to Russian market a new format for the country - the network of hypermarkets "Optical Club" Ryady. Optical clubs are designed specifically for b2b-direction and cooperation with small and medium-sized businesses.

"It is obvious that for this category of buyers the offer in St. Petersburg is not developed. Now they come either to wholesale depots with the appropriate level of service and quality of goods, either to us, or to METRO," states the Ryady Optical Club. more than 1 thousand regular customers - legal entities.

Salvation in unification

Ivan Fedyakov believes that in the face of pressure from large chains, the only way for small grocery retailers to survive is to unite into purchasing alliances, following the example of retailers in the USA and Europe.

In Russia, attempts to create such associations have been made since 2001, but almost all of them have failed. A more or less active project in Russia is the Federal Purchasing Union (FZS), which unites 96 regional chains in Russia (more than 4.5 thousand stores), but from all over the North-West only St. Petersburg "Smile Rainbow" and the Novgorod chain entered into it "Quarter".

"The Union reduces the cost of purchases for its members through direct imports, the purchase of exchange commodities in large volumes and the development of its own trade marks... Now the union has six of them, by the end of the year there will be 20 more ", - told" DP "in the FZS.

The activities of Russian purchasing unions are stalled mainly for two reasons, Ivan Fedyakov is sure, - this is the mistrust of entrepreneurs towards each other and the low discipline of entrepreneurs: the chains make purchases either through the union or on their own.

Alexander Myshinsky believes that unification is indeed inevitable, otherwise small networks just can't stand the competition. “We are now negotiating with our colleagues to create a purchasing alliance, but federal suppliers are doing everything possible to prevent this, for example, they threaten that they will not enter into direct contracts with the union or refuse to reduce prices,” the retailer says.

In the summer, the chains experience a traditional decline in sales, many are trading in negative territory. According to Ivan Fedyakov, this summer season not all companies will be able to survive.

I do not see a massive transition of small grids in the near future to work with large grids. Projects "Fasol" and others are, in my opinion, an attempt to study the market of shops within walking distance of large chains. In fact, these are pocket nets, in which the matrix of products is formed, to put it mildly, unprofessionally. I would not argue that independent small retail is dying. See what happens to the bakery market, how bakeries are growing. "Products 24 hours" is generally a separate format that entrepreneurs from neighboring countries love, and they will certainly stick to the last.