BRAND AVAILABILITY AS A PREREQUISITE FOR AN ADDITIONAL COMPETITIVE ADVANTAGE GAIN

Abstract

The Russian economy has now entered a pro-active growth stage. The various industries' development indicators go up and the per capita income increases, therefore the consumers' expenditure level inevitably rises. This is the reason why the Russian consumer good retail market sales volume grows by 23 % yearly. The indicator has been the same for the last few years and the growth pace is one of the highest in the world. However such a retail market sector growth brings about some new challenges. The retail companies have to answer the question: how can we maintain the market position and strengthen it- Using traditional sales techniques and technical instruments of competitive positioning (merchandizing tools and sales item format changes tools) are not enough for the company to operate successfully on the market. In order to become a success, the retail market sector companies should create their own brand names that could help the companies get the feedback from the consumers and add a human touch to their operations.