Matveeva N. V., Beschastna D. O., Rieznik M. A.

Oles Honchar Dnipropetrovsk National University

MAIN TRENDS IN THE RETAIL SECTOR

Supranational factors have the powerful influence on the development of the retail trade in the CIS countries, particularly in Ukraine. They determine the nature of future changes in the structure of retail network and therefore require careful study. This is due to the lack of correspondence of the retail trade development stages in the countries with developed market economies and the CIS counties, as well as very dynamic changes that accompany the formation of business environment and distribution of competitive forces in favor of trading networks of various types. Other factors also have the significant impact on retail trade, namely the consequences of the global financial crisis that fundamentally alter the nature of the competitive behavior of large companies, making decision-making about the future development more deliberate and careful. The world's largest retailers prefer such types of stores as supermarkets (98%), specialty stores (88%) and hypermarkets (73%).

Some countries gave a rise to certain types of shops. The "historic homeland" of hypermarkets is France, the country where discounters originated is Germany, and the USA is the birthplace of supermarkets.

The development of different types of stores in a particular country or region is affected by the following main factors: 1) investment climate in the country or the region; 2) standard of living; 3) climatic conditions; 4) level of local infrastructure; 5) mentality and special attitudes to the process of acquiring goods, traditions of goods consumption. All these factors effect differently, as the influence may vary in its strength. However, there are some patterns in retail development. The main ones are as follows:

– The higher the income level of the population is, the more preference is given to the traditional (for this market) types of stores. This is proven by the consumer behavior in Germany where people prefer a traditional for this market type of store, i.e. discounters;

– The more differences there are in mental characteristics of the population, the smaller market share well-known international corporate retail chains have in the country. These are the cultural barriers that are the biggest obstacle they have to opening the traditional types and formats of their stores without making major changes in the organization of their trade process and production methods. Japan is a good example here: the penetration of this market requires flexibility in the trade network behavior that is reflected in investment volumes.

– The more differences there are in the climatic conditions of the country, the more complex the logistic schemes of delivery are, the lower place international corporate retail chains have in the country.

Among the current key trends, which manifest themselves on the global retail market, are the following: 1) increase in investment activities of companies from developing countries; 2) weakening of the U.S. influence on the global consumer market; 3) increased focus on Asian markets; 4) increasing interest in the combination of the store and nonstore forms of trading; 5) finding new niches in the market; 6).increase in the investment of leading companies in the service sector.

The competition of major commercial networks in recent years has mainly been of the price nature. The companies that are able to differentiate their offer not only by the price of goods, but also by finding new niches in the market, by introducing non-standard formats of the well-known types of stores, by product range expanding will be successful in the future.

In saturated developed markets of retail trade, the slow growth and the rise in spending on services are characteristic features and carry both opportunities and threats. Retail companies that can successfully sell the related services or use the popularity of their own brands can increase their growth rate by increasing their share in consumer spending. Some retailers are already using this advantage.

It is very interesting to note that in some markets online shops were able to win some market share against the fixed retail trade enterprises. In the future, retailers will concentrate their efforts on expanding their activity, focusing on different channels of sale of goods and use Web sites not only for sales but also to create brand awareness, keep the customers informed about a variety of special programs, invite buyers to a dialogue and establish feedback. The convergence of these two channels will be the main task of retailers over the coming years.

The changes in consumer behavior have had the crucial influence on the development of the global retail trade of foodstuffs. In particular, there is a growing consumer demand for healthy products and services, increasing requirements for the quality of service in stores. It should be noted that the nature of retail trade development in developed market economies differs slightly from that in emerging economies.

The key trends for the retail trade markets that sell foodstuffs in the developed countries in recent years are as follows: 1) increase in the supply of nonfoods in super­markets and improvement of service; 2) combining characteristics of different types of stores and new store formats; 3) increased attention to discounters due to the aggravation of price competition in the market.

The nature of the key trends in the retail food trade markets in developing countries is different. The increasing urbanization of consumers there is increasing the demand for supermarkets, hypermarkets and discounters; liberalization of market regulation leads to an increase in foreign investment. Thus, in the coming years the retail trade market will remain one of the most promising areas for investment.

Among the forecast trends in the global retail food trade by 2015 the following main points can be singled out: 1) continued dominance of leading companies of the rating of the largest retail chains in the global retail market; 2) increased attention to service and differentiation of their offers by trading networks; 3) increased attention to and widespread use of Internet commerce; 4) further convergence of characteristics of different types of shops in the markets of developed countries; 5) development of major types of shops in the markets of developing countries.

 The forecast trends in general mean the continuing trend of the dominance of leading companies in the world, the search and use by them of various tools and means to maintain their position in the highly competitive retail market.