Marketing Activity Directions in Consumer Cooperation Self-Service Shops

One of the core-stone of socio-economic problems to be solved in conditions of national economy modernization is the utmost satisfaction of the population’s needs in retail trade services. Modern development of retail trade in Russia led to stiffer competition in the consumer market due to appearing of the online trading, which uses progressive forms and methods of sales. In rural areas consumer cooperation is the main trading system and it is also affected by the changes as well as retail trade all over Russia is. Due to competition in rural areas outdated material and technical resources of retail enterprises, lack of working capital, high interest rates on loans, low cash income of the rural population have led to weakening of the consumer cooperatives’ position in the consumer market. Nowadays the situation is improving. Scientific studies and business practices conducted by consumer cooperatives show that retail trade, contributing to the development and efficiency of both individual consumer cooperative organizations and the system as a whole should use the most effective methods of selling goods that are adequate to the economic situation in consumer cooperation and the country's economy. This problem can be solved by means of self-service development, which integrates possibilities of economic entities of the sphere, and consumers’ preferences. Of special importance is self-service development which is an effective method of selling products in consumer cooperation, where retail trade, when being dominant in the structure of a diversified economy, can hardly adapt to conditions of a dynamic environment. Retailers of consumer cooperatives of the Belgorod region are not an exception. Marketing activity in the retail trade has its own characteristics, which depend on peculiarities of retailers’ trading activity, but in turn, it is focused on maximizing profits by means of the utmost satisfaction of customers’ needs. That is why the article suggests directions of marketing activities for self-service stores of consumer cooperation that are specializing in sale of goods (the optimal range, additional services, effective advertising, qualified staff, loyalty programs, favorable environment). Solution of the stated tasks was carried out on the basis of scientific methods (analysis, synthesis), economic and statistical methods of data processing (grouping, comparison, index method), sociological research methods (survey) and methods of deterministic integrated evaluation (distance method, ranking method, score method, average geometric method, method of coefficients). Consumer cooperation self-service retail shops of the Belgorod region are characterized by steady growth in retail turnover, which is caused by an increase in number of self-service stores, as well as expansion and restructuring of goods range. In this connection improvement of marketing activities in consumer cooperation self-service shops allows them to be more attractive for customers, improve their efficiency and become more competitive in the rural consumer market.