No More Discounts For Belarusians?

The reason for that is low profitability of stores.

The trade networks of Belarus may stop large-scale discount actions due to the low profitability of retail trade, Co-Chairperson of the Association of Retail Trade Networks Natallia Shablinskaya has told the journalists on Thursday night in Minsk, Interfax.by reports.

“Today the trading networks are competing with each other, setting the minimum trading margins and holding various actions to attract a customer. As a result, the customer has a wide selection of products and low prices. But if the profitability of retail networks fall even lower, they will have to compensate for the losses by increasing the prices of goods,” – Shablinskaya has said.

“We have many ideas but their realization is restrained by the low profitability. Many retail trade networks, especially food ones, are balancing with the profitability level being approximately 1%,” – she has added.

The Association of Retail Trade Networks was registered in August 2012. Currently it includes 18 business entities, which account for about 45% of the total turnover of the retail trade in Belarus. These are 926 food stores, 746 of which are of the “round the corner” format.