Analysis of The Structural Development Stage of The Retail Trade in The Russian Federation

The retail market mainly depends on the purchasing power of the population. The industry situation worsened significantly after the macroeconomic events of 2014, sharp ruble weakening and food embargo introduction. In 2018, real cash incomes of the population again showed a reduction, and the model of consumer behavior changed from saving to lean consumption. In addition, convenience and time saving have become one of the consumer`s priorities, which stimulates the development of e-Commerce (delivery services) and negatively affects traffic and sales in hypermarkets. On the Food Retail market, the largest development is gained by retail chains selling goods at a price close to the wholesale, namely, discounters, with federal chains having the highest rates. Thus, discounters are the most dynamically growing format. The ongoing reconstruction programs can improve the perceived quality of the service provided. Moreover, the market has a high level of retail chain consolidation. It significantly increases the threshold for entering the industry, leads to large-scale promotional activities, and, as a result, negatively affects the profitability of retailers and suppliers. In order to understand what the pace of retail market recovery is and what to expect in the future, we conducted a study of the industry. So the purpose of this study is to analyze the stage of structural development of the retail industry to justify the priority strategic decisions for individual industry participants.