Viktar Marhelau: New Year turns into an ordinary day-off
New Year sales common in the western countries haven’t assimilated in Belarus yet due to the absence of traditions and low purchasing power of the population.
“Who grants discounts in Europe? Usually these are large or network trade structures. They have big market force for that. First, they can reduce their price markup, secondly – make their producers to give them goods even more cheaply”, - noted the interlocutor, adding that in the West producers have a possibility to reduce their own price markup.
This opinion shared in the talk with the EuroBelarus Information Service a co-chairman of the Republican Confederation of Entrepreneurship Viktar Marhelau.
Whereas in Belarus price cutting doesn’t make up for the large sales volume. “It is more difficult there; we have recently switched from the socialist economy. Today cost-effectiveness of our production is 15 per cent at most. And cost-effectiveness of market trade is 3 per cent at best”, - said Viktar Marhelau.
According to his words, even the fact that a lot of Belarusans go shopping to the neighboring countries can’t make the local trade join the struggle for their own consumers: “And what can they do? Command a meat-packing plant to reduce prices on sausage? But the plant won’t do it. Reduction is possible only for the foreign wares, into which bigger extra cost is built. But it already happens quite regularly, not only for the holidays”.
The interlocutor noted that in the West Christmas sales are already a tradition “from which trade gets extra profit”.
While in Belarus, noted the co-chairman of the Confederation of Entrepreneurship, such experience hasn’t been yet assimilated: “we had experimentalists in different business which tried to reduce their price markup. It resulted in nothing except damage”.
Viktar Margelau allows for the fact that bigger players in the Belarusan market can “play” on sales a little”. “But they as well can only do that at the expense of the prosperity of their suppliers. And the suppliers, in their turn, have already started taking measures in order not to be treated in this way”, - told the expert.
He noted that neither by the price reduction nor with the help of sales it is possible to double or triple the demand: “Because the question doesn’t hinge barely on the trade organizations that should reduce prices. People should set aside money for this day. We should cut down expenses for some time, as America and Europe do, where people save money for this sale season”.
The co-chairman of the Confederation of Entrepreneurship assumes that gradually the tradition of new-year sales will be developed in Belarus as well. “There are certain traces of this process in this direction, but it can’t go fast”, - he said.
The main factor that furthers new-year trade is the increase of the purchasing power of the population. “If people have money, then the trade will think up how to satisfy their demand for this money. But if they run a household in accordance with the planned economy merely to make their ends meet, then trade can’t do anything about it”, - highlighted Viktar Marhelau.
-
03.01
-
07.10
-
22.09
-
17.08
-
12.08
-
30.09
