Family discounter. About company. Shop with a narrow assortment and a minimum set of services for customers

The overwhelming majority of Russians still do not understand the term “discounter”. On the one hand, such stores look very much like supermarkets, on the other hand, they have certain differences.

Unstable economic situation in the country entails large financial losses for large retail chains. Nevertheless, according to many experts, it is discounter companies that have every chance to improve their well-being, since they can compete with large stores and develop confidently. Let's take a closer look at what a discounter store is, as well as the features of its operation.

What is a discounter?

The first discounter stores appeared in the middle of the last century in a number of countries Western Europe(in particular, in Germany), where they were retail outlets where everyone could purchase essential products at a minimal price.

At the same time, the owners of such shops did not invest in the interior, and most of the goods were simply on the floor in cardboard and wooden boxes. Nevertheless, in the context of the post-war food shortage, such a format retail outlets gained immense popularity among citizens of different states.

What is a modern grocery discounter? This is a store where a fairly narrow product range is presented, besides, customers are provided with a minimum service maintenance... This disadvantage is fully compensated by the minimum selling prices for all products located on the shelves and counters of the sales area.

A quite reasonable question may arise - how are such trade enterprises obtained? There are strictly defined principles on which the work of discounter stores is based:

• minimization of expenses for registration of retail space;
• a small number of employees;
• a limited range of categories of available goods;
• sales of products by reducing the selling prices as much as possible;
• simple display of goods in trading floor;
• flexible system of discounts.

As a rule, the area of ​​such stores is about 700-1000 m2, and only those goods that are in great demand among customers are located there. Usually, the markup for products in discounters is 10-15% and below. Also, there are practically no warehouses in retail outlets of this format, so most of the products are located directly in the trading floor.

Important: in discounters, there are often only those goods that do not need packaging, cutting, weighing, bar-coding, as well as obtaining detailed advice on characteristics and methods of use. For this reason, high qualifications are not required from the personnel, moreover, the level wages employees are below average.

Since discounters initially position themselves as stores of low prices with a narrow (but highly demanded) assortment, they primarily target the category of citizens with “below average” income. For this reason, most of these retail outlets are located directly in residential areas of many settlements.

Such shopping facilities are a real "gold mine" for people who are considering different. It is discounters that allow you to purchase most of the goods, including branded products, at bargain prices. Therefore, it will bring in considerable income when you open your own store.

It is assumed that a person can come to a store located near his home, and for this he does not need to use his own transport. There is a very small percentage of discounters that are visited by car owners. No one invests money in their own parking and convenient access to a shopping facility - such shops are located at the intersection or parallel to major highways. In addition, discounters are always located exclusively within the city.

Pros and cons of discounters

Like other types of retail facilities, discounters have some positive characteristics and pitfalls. TO positive sides This format of the work of stores should be attributed to:

• scanty selling prices for goods;
• minimal merchandising, thanks to which a person chooses the desired product himself;
• the cost of grocery (and other goods) is lower than the market;
• availability of significant discounts (sometimes up to 80%) for buyers;
• holding promotions, thanks to which some products can be bought for a pittance;
• availability of essential goods in the store.

Also, the advantages of discounters include the absence of perishable products in them. For this reason, buyers do not have to worry that they will be “slipped” a low-quality, expired product with an “interrupted date”. But there are also disadvantages of this format of shopping facilities, which include:

• inability to pay with credit cards in most stores;
• availability of a narrow range of products;
• lack of cleanliness in most retail outlets;
• high probability of purchasing defective products.

Despite the fact that it is quite often possible to buy goods with hidden defects in discounters, this practically does not affect the amount of profit received. Many sellers use similar cases the following:

• When a crumpled or torn package is found, the cost of the product is significantly reduced, and the product is taken away by the buyer without any problems.
• If the product is severely damaged, a small trinket can be added to it as a bonus, which will always come in handy on the farm (for example, a package of batteries, a set of disposable razors, etc.).

How does a discounter shop work?

Note that there are practically no single discounter stores, since with such economic model investment work simply does not justify itself. In addition, usually all retail facilities belong to a certain network, which has a large number of markets. They can be roughly divided into “hard” and “soft” discount stores.

In the first case, goods are delivered to trading floors strictly according to the schedule from specialized distribution centers. Layout (merchandising) is carried out in containers - cardboard or wooden boxes. In turn, manufacturers of goods pack them in such a way that they can be quickly laid out in the store. For this reason, shoppers do not have to pay for the bags that are sold in almost all supermarkets. The owners of such stores significantly save on the minimum number of employees, and also receive tangible benefits when purchasing products for sales areas. The goods are selected in such a way that there is a daily consumer demand for them. The low selling price of products is always due to the strict technology of operation of all stores included in the general discount chain. This invariably implies expenses for logistics, building management, making large amounts of investment, which, of course, is taken into account during the enterprise.

As for the "soft" discount, stores of this format offer a wider range of products, provide a minimum service, and customers can count on an average level of service. In such retail outlets, work is carried out according to the principle of self-service, and the prices for the products sold are below average. Typically, the area of ​​"soft" discounters is about 400-700 m2, and warehouses - up to 200 m2. The trading floors accommodate up to 1.5 thousand product names, up to 10 units cash registers, and the number of staff ranges from 25-30 employees. During a working day in such a store, the number of purchases does not exceed 2.5 thousand, and the monthly turnover is about 15-20 million rubles.

In addition to grocery discounters, there are formats for the operation of stores for sale household appliances, electronics, clothing, footwear and other product groups. Let's take a look at some of the features of their work:

1. Electronics discounters. Such trade enterprises retail popular products that are featured in most offline electronics stores. The markup on products is insignificant, so enterprises allow themselves to sell equipment in unlimited quantities. Sometimes large stores turn to such discounters for the purchase of certain consignments of goods. Almost all companies of this format cannot do without, which provides an additional sales channel. Payment for products is usually carried out using payment terminals and electronic payment systems. For regular customers a flexible system of discounts is provided.
2. Household appliances discounters. In many ways, this format is similar to the previous one, but it has a few minor differences. First of all, such companies sell to consumers repaired equipment, as well as electronics that have been in warehouses and showcases for a long time. Today, almost all discounters cooperate with Chinese manufacturers, whose product quality is high and does not lag behind Western counterparts.
3. Discounter shops selling footwear. The difference between such trading platforms lies in the high quality of the products offered and in the low selling prices. This ensures a huge flow of buyers, so that the products are never stuck in warehouses. The clear leaders in the market are Russian companies"Mattino" and "Footwear Center" (which, by the way, produces footwear under its own trademark). The products are designed for low-income buyers. As a rule, Russian and Chinese-made footwear is sold, as well as running models of many European suppliers. In stores, shoes are presented in a huge assortment and laid out in such a way that the buyer independently chooses the suitable option for himself. As a rule, such sites have a minimum number of sellers.

As you can see, discounters are able to work much more efficiently than usual supermarkets, sales of which during the period economic instability are significantly reduced. The same cannot be said about discounters, whose turnover, even with the worst forecasts, during the crisis can increase up to 40%.

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As practice shows, in Russian Federation This format of shopping facilities is gaining momentum in full swing. Often, stores are located in places with large flows of people, who subsequently become motivated consumers who visit the sales area in order to purchase a particular product on an ongoing basis.

In contact with

Save-a-lot is a hard discounter chain of stores with over 2,300 stores in 39 US states. The retailer opens stores through the provision of "opening licenses", essentially a franchise scheme. Sales in 2012 were approximately US $ 4 billion. The retailer serves more than 5 million shoppers across all states every week, offering savings of up to 40% on certain product groups compared to conventional stores. Save-a-lot network is one of the leaders in the US retail market.

Adhering to the "hard discounter" format, Save-a-lot offers its customers a limited assortment of basic goods at the lowest possible prices. On average, the retail space of the Save-a-lot discounter is 1400 sq. M, although there are Save-a-lot stores in the format of 930 sq. M. And 1900 sq. M. Among the main competitors are ALDI, Walmart, Bottom Dollar Food and other dollar grocery stores

Assortment - basic only

The assortment of each store includes about 1250 names of the main product groups: groceries, fruits, vegetables, frozen products, beer, wine, fish and meat. The goods are located mainly in cardboard pallets in which they arrive from the manufacturer - this reduces the retailer's costs for shelf space and labor force... Each Save-a-lot store offers the buyer 800 strong positions under the Save-a-lot private label, many of these products are supplied by large manufacturers. It should be noted that the retailer is developing several private labels, among them: Kaskey's (soups), Coburn Farms (dairy products), Bubba (soda), J. Higgs (salty snacks), Kurtz (spices), Mantia's (pasta and sauces for pasta), World's Fair (frozen desserts) and others.

The assortment is actively monitored by Save-a-lot, including design, packaging and in-store merchandising. Retailer Save-a-lot uses an 85/15 assortment planning matrix, where 85% of products are part of the main nationwide program for performance management and are defined at headquarters, and 15% are determined by local or ethnic customer needs.

The company offers a 100% guarantee on private label goods. Many of them were named after the company's employees - a great tool for increasing morale and loyalty among the sales force.

The discounter also sells a small part of non-food: household goods, cosmetics, health products. Save-a-lot stores do not sell pastries, hot coffee, ready-made food, salad bars, sushi bars, etc. The absence of these items allows them to focus on the basic inexpensive range and creates a feeling of low prices in the store among the shoppers.

A small fresh food area is located at the entrance to the store. As a rule, special purchases are also displayed at the entrance. These products are always laid out in the manufacturer's pallets and boxes, and their prices are much cheaper than those of similar products. famous brands... In the "Special Products" section, branded goods are also displayed at discounted prices.

Save-a-lot seeks to locate its discounters in densely populated areas and does not focus on traffic, unlike retail giants such as Walmart and Tesco. Thanks to this, the retailer is able to open stores in those urban areas that are not considered by larger competitors due to the low intensity of car flows. The retailer plans to double the number of outlets by 2014, expanding the market around its distribution centers.

Buyers - older women withfoodstamps

The average age of Save-a-lot customers is 55 and above, 80% of customers are women. The average family income of a Save-a-lot customer is between $ 15,000 and $ 50,000, however, the average does not exceed $ 35,000. About 35% of families have children under the age of 18. Significant amount Save-a-lot shoppers stock food stamps in these stores. These cards are issued by local social services to low-income families, they are limited in the number of purchases and they cannot buy alcohol, cigarettes and some types of goods.

According to the company, in the Save-a-lot zone, the problem of diabetes in families is four times more acute than the national average. Therefore, the retailer has launched a line of private label products "Healthy for you" with a reduced content of fat, sugar and sodium.

V new strategy Save-a-lot the idea of ​​healthy food will play a more important role. The retailer has entered into an agreement with the Department Agriculture a number of states and local producers to sell local food.

Stores are a kind of hypermarkets, but have a number of significant differences from them. Their appearance is an indisputable merit of marketers, economists, and also managers. In developed countries, the concept of "discounter" has long been known, since this direction of trade appeared in the mid-60s. These stores entered the Russian market relatively recently, in the early 2000s.

In the West, it is generally accepted that these are stores of low prices, and their demand arises only during periods of crisis, when a large number of people lose stable earnings. But, as practice shows, even in the absence of crisis unrest in the economy, the discounter is in demand among people who prefer to save money.

Discounter chains

Not every store that bears the name "discounter" can actually be called such. The main difference is that stores of this kind are a chain of discounters. This opens up the possibility for the store to exchange batches of goods between different network branches, the distribution is based on the study of consumer demand. The first classic representative of this type of stores is the German company Aldi, whose chain of stores is represented in many countries of Europe and America. Australia also knows about these stores. At present, discounter chains occupy a significant part of the market in Germany - over 45%. The profitability of these stores is much higher than that of conventional hypermarkets and supermarkets. In the market, not only in the West, but also in America, marketers have a new concept - "cunning buyer". This means that the buyer will buy some categories of goods in expensive brand stores, and some are purchased by them in discounters. It was this phenomenon that was the main prerequisite for the spread of this network in a large number countries.

It should also be noted that the assortment in the discounter is very limited and often consists of the most essential products, that is, it includes no more than a hundred types of goods. Discounters - what is it if not an opportunity to save well on basic consumer goods?

Principles of reducing prices for goods in discounters

• Low mark-up level of no more than 12%, only 2% of which goes to the store as a profit.
• There is no plastic card payment system.
• Number of employees: often the store administrator, along with the loaders, unloads trucks with goods or sits at the cash register.
• Lack of advertising as such, which occupies a significant share in the costs of any enterprise. The only thing discounters release to promote their products are advertising catalogs containing a full list of the store's products.

Distinctive features of shops

Older discounters were more like low-maintenance warehouses. In the 21st century, such stores are improved by a high level of automation.

Despite the cost savings due to savings in maintenance, product quality is on par with conventional stores. If they saved on it, it would lead to the loss of customers and the complete ruin of the business.

A distinctive feature of discounters is also a relatively small area for trade; quite often these stores offer products manufactured under their own brand.

Benefit combined with convenience

Still, food products occupy a large share in the discounter market. But there are also chains of household appliances. Discounters - what is it if not an opportunity to purchase goods at prices close to wholesale prices! On the Russian market of household appliances, such retail chains have settled quite steadily and create competition for the shops that are familiar to consumers. Most often, an electronics discounter is an online store. The essence of its work is quite simple: a person chooses a product from an online catalog, orders it, and within a certain time it is delivered to the buyer at home.

Reasons for low prices

Rent retail space not required - it is enough to rent a small warehouse for placing goods.

Lack of service personnel - sellers, cashiers. There are enough employees to deliver equipment to customers.

Electronics discounters

The largest electronics discounter currently on the Russian market is TechnoPoint. The company is firmly entrenched in the retail sale of household appliances using completely new methods of product sales. The work on the issue and receipt of goods is carried out in specially rented points, which are equipped with computer terminals. We provide flexible terms for purchasing products for regular customers.

Household appliances discounters

A household appliances discounter is a chain of stores that sell refurbished appliances or those that have been exhibited in the windows of ordinary stores for a long time. They also provide this type of product, so the consumer can count on high level service. Many electronics discounters work with manufacturers from China today - prices for goods in this case are quite low. In the PRC, they are produced in last years sufficiently high-quality equipment, trying to keep up with technological production West.

Price formation

The development of these stores led to the creation of networks in different directions, including the sale of shoes. A classic discounter selling shoes is a store with a retail space of 300 to 600 sq. m, and the assortment is no more than 4 thousand items. There are two distinct directions in this industry. The first is a network of shoe discounters selling low-price products from one or more manufacturers. The second one is shops selling goods of a certain company, which are left over from unsold collections. Both types of discounters provide their customers with products at low prices.

So, discounters - what they are, is known today to most consumers. They are engaged in the sale of inexpensive products and expect to make a profit through rapid turnover. Stores preferring to operate in the second direction profit from the liquidity of the collection produced by the branded manufacturers.

Shoe discounters

The largest discounters in the footwear industry in Russia are TsentrObuv and Mattino. A constant number of buyers on the trading floors of discounters are provided, of course, by low prices for products, as well as a special display of shoes, which creates the impression of a large assortment of products. The main clients are people with low monthly incomes who need to meet a strictly defined amount of money. A shoe discounter is a store that offers an assortment of both Western and Russian manufacturers. Some stores supply footwear from China, others produce goods under their own brand - for example, "TsentrObuv".

Reducing costs in a shoe discounter is also carried out due to a small number of recruited service personnel. The shoe chain assumes a high degree of customer self-service. The entire assortment of the store is often exhibited at trading platform, therefore, the buyer can independently choose the color and size of the purchased shoes.

A sports discounter can also be found quite often in most cities, because many athletes want to be able to purchase quality goods at reduced prices. Modern discounters - what is it if not great opportunity save quite an impressive amount when buying the necessary goods! Such networks are developing extremely rapidly, expanding the base own stores in all regions of the country.

Most often, discount store chains are located in crowded places, where the flow of customers will consist of both target buyers who have come for a certain product, and bystanders who just came in to see, but most likely will not leave without a purchase. By the way, this is how most casual buyers become regulars.

Discounters are self-service department stores selling mainly grocery stores and partially non-food products everyday demand at low prices. Experts call these stores "a truncated version of supermarkets," which retains the same selling method and a similar assortment, although not as wide. The retail area of ​​these stores is on average 600 square meters. m, although shops with an area of ​​up to 3000 sq. m. Low prices in discounters, they are provided by minimizing maintenance costs, low quality equipment, and cheap decoration of stores. As a rule, these stores are not located in the city center, but are built in residential, so-called "dormitory" areas. The discounter is aimed at all residents of nearby neighborhoods who do not want to pay extra money for everyday goods. Today discounters are a serious competitor to street markets.

Discounters are usually divided into "hard" and "soft". The most promising in the practice of world retail are rigid formats, one of which is a grocery discounter.

Rigid format this space is up to 1000 square meters, practically without repair, a narrow assortment - from 500 to 2000 items, while at least 50% of it is occupied by our own trade marks, goods on pallets, self-service, minimum mark-up, and due to all this - a very low trade margin of 5-7%.

Soft format (Soft discounter)- these premises are already 5-10 times more spacious, a larger assortment, goods on racks, shelves, showcases. But the consequence of this is a slightly higher markup, because servicing a larger assortment is more expensive for the operator, respectively, slightly higher than the price.

The first discounters appeared in Germany almost 40 years ago. Initially, they occupied a small share in the total volume of trade. Today in Germany discounters occupy 50% of the retail food market.

Discount stores are becoming widespread all over the world, especially in Europe, and are actively spreading in Russia.

However, according to experts, today there are no hard discounters in Russia, which is primarily due to the inability to organize in practice the business model of a discounter store, which is characterized by low costs due to optimal logistics schemes. effective work personnel, reaching special agreements with suppliers. Moreover Russian market formats of retail chains is at the beginning of its development and is not yet oversaturated modern formats... Thus, while other formats are in demand that do not require such a highly efficient organization of business processes as a discounter, retailers prefer to work in them, thereby making their profit in a simpler way.

The economic crisis made some adjustments to the development of network formats. The decline in household incomes led to an increase in the share of buyers, who most of the family budget spend in discounters. Consumers deliberately move away from the large average check, which they make in hypermarkets one way or another, in favor of a discounter, where it is lower. At the end of 2009, the share of those who make the main purchases in discounters increased from 26% to 34%. This is the only format that showed growth in 2009.

Most large networks who consider themselves to be discounters:

· The Pyaterochka retail chain - operates in the “soft discounter” format;

· Trade network "Kopeyka" - "Soft discounter";

· Dixy retail chain - operates in a “hard discounter” format - as of April 30, 2010, there are 529 Dixy grocery discounters in three federal districts of Russia: Central, North-West and Ural.

The share of discounter chains at the end of 2009 was 4%. For comparison, in France their share reaches 13%, in Germany 50%, which is due to the national characteristics of a particular country. In Russia, the format today has great development prospects.

Figure 8 Share of discount chains in the market retail sales food products in Russia in 2009

A network of retail stores with a narrow assortment, but low prices

Shop with a narrow assortment and a minimum set of services for customers

1. General statements about discounters

2. How discounters work

Discounter - it a store with a narrow assortment and a minimum set of services for buyers, with fairly low prices. The management of such a store is aimed at reducing costs due to the minimalist design of the sales area, simplified display of goods, reducing the number of working personnel, limiting the range of products that should be sold in large quantities at the expense of low prices.

Discounter- it“Low Price Stores” is a chain of retail stores with a narrow assortment, but low prices (in comparison with stores of other formats in the region).

General statements about discounters

The main audience of discounters is buyers with average and lower average incomes. In classic discounters, prices are on average 15-20% lower than in supermarkets.

There are two main types of discounters: hard and soft. The assortment of hard - less than 1 thousand items, most of which does not require refrigeration, soft - up to 4 thousand. Trading floor area - up to 800 square meters. m (soft - up to 1.5 thousand sq. m). According to market participants, in 2006 discounters accounted for about 7% of the Ukrainian grocery retail market, estimated at $ 12-14 billion. Dnipropetrovsk ATB-Market, Lviv Intermarket (Barvinok chain) operate in the soft discounter format in Ukraine , "Retail Group" ("Prosto Market") and Lutsk "Agrocontract".

In the case of a sufficiently large network of such stores, the constant movement of consignments of goods from one store to another is practiced, where there is a greater demand for this product. Thus, savings on warehouses.

The first low-price stores appeared in Germany in the mid-1950s under conditions of relative economic stability and minimal inflation. In a short period of time, they have gained wide popularity in Western Europe and the United States. Today stores of this format - for example, Aldi, Lidl, Wal-Mart, Biedronka - confidently occupy leading positions in the retail market. In 2001, the ATB-Market network joined the family of discounters.

During the economic crisis, discounters are very popular. Attendance and turnover of products during this period grows significantly - by 20-40%

Low prices are achieved due to cost savings: minimal design of the sales area, a small number of staff, simplified display of goods. The main principle of profitability of the discounter chain is a high turnover of all goods in the assortment of the retail network. There are two types of discounters: hard (no more than 1000 items in the assortment, store area is 500-800 sq. M.) And soft (assortment of 1500-3000 items, area up to 1.5 thousand sq. M.).

How discounters work

Discounters are stores with a fairly large area (from 700 to 1200 square meters), as a rule, without a perishable group and practically without branded goods. There are so-called hard and soft discounters. Hard ones are characterized by the ratio “1 assortment position per 1 square meter of retail space”. That is, there will be only 800 items in a store 800 meters away! Is it possible to imagine this in our country, where, it seems, even in the trade pavilion there will be almost the same amount?

A soft discounter for the same area will provide a little more choice - 1.5-2 assortment positions per square meter.

What are the other features of this format? The fact that the principle of cost saving is implemented in everything. This is the centralization and maximum automation of all logistics, purchasing, analytical processes - they take place in the central offices, the store is not involved in this. Because of this, the staff of a discounter a few years ago could consist of 4-6 people for the entire store of 700 meters! These people do everything - they accept the goods, and lay them out, and sit at the checkout, work as loaders, merchandisers, and commodity managers ... This gives enormous cost savings, and, unfortunately, it is completely impossible to sell in our country.

Savings occur on everything: in the world (no special lighting, only general construction lighting), on equipment (it is cheap, partially made entirely on our own), minimal or no design, except for external design. Cleanliness can be lame, but cost savings never.

Savings on stocks and maintaining the assortment are due to its severe restrictions. The layout is often done directly in the packages, and there are pictures explaining that you cannot take one bottle, you can only take a package of four. There are practically no warehouses as such, all goods are in the trading floor. Automation and bar-coding began to be used relatively recently, until that time they also saved on this.

Despite the strict limitation of assortment, the chains of discounters seriously monitor the structure of consumers' consumption and brag without undue modesty that in the discounter you can buy 80% of the products of daily consumption. There will simply be little choice: one kind paper napkins, 5 flavors of juice, one kind of canned peas, etc.

At the same time, precisely due to the clear positioning, discounters are not afraid of competition from supermarkets, supermarkets and convenience stores: they simply are not competitors in terms of price - the price in a discounter can be 2 times cheaper. Quite the opposite: discounter managers are happy to put them right in front of good store... Then the buyer goes both ways: in one he buys daily products, in the other he buys himself an exquisite cheese, a bottle of good wine or nice colored notebooks. It is not known what supermarkets think about such a neighborhood, but discounters feel great with such an arrangement.

It is widely believed that low-income people, students, etc. are bought in discounters. This is not entirely true. Of course, it is there that the mentioned group of people makes the bulk of purchases, but also middle class, and the upper class does not hesitate to go to a discounter. At least in Germany. The Germans know how to count money, therefore it is not uncommon to meet a Porsche of the latest model parked near a discounter.

Our compatriots, getting into discounters, as a rule, are unpleasantly surprised that there is no seller in the hall, there is no one to ask anything, the assortment is very limited, and the cleanliness often leaves much to be desired. But they are very pleasantly surprised at the prices and say: "When will it be possible to buy from us at such prices?" The question is rhetorical: in our country, the existence of a discounter format is now simply unrealistic: due to accounting reasons, and sanitary requirements and norms, and due to labor legislation.

Sources of

kommersant.ua Kommersant

ru.wikipedia.org Wikipedia the free encyclopedia

info-stalking.com Consulting company - Info-stalking

torgrus.com Retail News and Technologies