Anna Astakhova, an expert in the field of business process automation, spoke about the peculiarities of the Russian retail of digital equipment and mobile phones, how its digitalization is going on, and what awaits it shortly.
Tell us about the structure of the Russian market of digital technology and mobile phones. How is it different from others?
This market includes national and regional networks, as well as marketplaces and online stores. Yes, regional companies also exist in this market, and in some regions, they are more popular with customers than national chains. A feature of the market is the absence of conditions for the emergence of new companies both at the federal and regional levels. But let’s go in order.
Federal networks are well known to everyone and occupy a significant market share; these include:
- Cellular operators that not only connect and support subscribers but also have a wide range of digital equipment and mobile phones;
- Manufacturing companies such as Xiaomi, Samsung, and Huawei. When you come to such a store, you will meet the broadest range of this brand and expert sellers who understand technical issues.
- Retail chains: DNS, Eldorado, MVideo, Citylink, and others have a wide range of digital equipment and mobile phones. Such networks create their brands, which allows them to put the lowest price on some models;
The absence of stores allows you to reduce rental costs and provide low prices to customers for popular goods.
Regional companies are retail chains from 2 to 400 stores. Such networks appeared in the early 2000s when telecom operators actively occupied leased places in regional and district cities. The operators could not develop quickly on their own, so they found entrepreneurs in the regions and offered to expand the franchise network together. Most regional networks have salons under the Megafon, Beeline, MTS, and Tele-2 brands.
Developing your trade brand in the region is expensive and challenging. Still, networks such as Plus 7 in Belgorod, KCentr in Izhevsk, MS.Phone in Pyatigorsk, and First Cellular in Chelyabinsk have handled it and are very popular with customers.
Manufacturers of digital equipment and mobile phones also cooperate with regional companies, developing a partner network. In this case, regional companies receive a unique assortment and marketing support from manufacturers locally in the region.
What Is The Primary Income Of This Market Formed On?
The income generation model depends on the type of business:
- Cellular operators are fighting for each subscriber and “subscriber life expectancy” (the period of use of the tariff and services). Selling goods and services is not a critical task;
- National and regional chains form the primary income through the sale of accessories and additional services. In such companies, checks are strictly tracked where one device was sold;
- Networks that develop cellular operator franchises strive to meet subscriber connection plans, as this directly affects rewards, a significant share of income.
What Are The Current Trends In The Promotion Of Digital Technology And Mobile Phones?
Over the past few years, the Russian digital retail community has been talking about a reduction in the number of stores and that stores will serve as a “showcase,” and customers will buy in online stores and marketplaces.
In general, this is happening, the share of sales via the Internet is growing, and the customer flow to stores is declining.
What Changes Await Him In The Near Future?
The consumer electronics market in Russia is falling. This is due to an increase in the cost of devices, consumer loans, and a shortage of goods. This will lead to a reduction in stores in regional cities. Since May 2022, there has been a trend for regional companies to enter marketplaces.
How Is The Digitalization Of Russian Retail Of Digital Equipment And Mobile Phones Going?
Russian retail of digital equipment and mobile phones is highly competitive. Competition forces constant investment in digitalization.
Federal companies solve the problem of automatically obtaining data from partners: someone develops a single program and forces partners to work on it, and someone develops individual connectors for each partner. Federal companies are also introducing tools to reduce customer service time.
Regional companies are working on creating a unified information system. It integrates with all programs and services and allows you to receive information and make decisions quickly. In this regard, we are seeing an increase in the number of implementations of BI systems, CRM systems, and ordering integrations of any complexity.
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