Supermarkets will allocate separate shelves for Russian cosmetics and perfumes

It turns out that Russian goods do not always have a place on the shelf in domestic stores. As sad as it may be, Russian manufacturers of household chemicals and cosmetics claim that their capacities are twice as underutilized. However, the project to create a “Russian shelf” in stores has already been prepared and has been sent to the government for approval.

Preliminarily, the “product face” on the Russian shelf will be represented by four categories: perfumes, cosmetics, household chemicals and hygiene products. Anna Vovk, a member of the Council on Financial, Industrial and Investment Policy of the Chamber of Commerce and Industry, is sure, in particular, that Russian cosmetics already occupy a fairly large place in stores today. “In this regard, we are also import substituting. However, we still have potential for further growth,” she believes.

As they say, the richer you are, the happier you are. Before the introduction of economic sanctions against Russia, our products were quite successfully exported to different countries. Some analysts believe that here we are able to compete even with global brands. This is a note to men who have not congratulated their “halves” on March 8 for a long time and do not know that our perfumery and cosmetic products are not only competitive, but also relatively cheap compared to their European counterparts.

The essence of the bill is to separate Russian and foreign products. And, thereby, provide support to domestic producers. So that his products are visible on store shelves.

For retail, the document proposes to introduce an obligation to have domestic goods in certain quantities. The quota for traditional trade has not yet been determined, but it will not exceed 50% of the total volume.

A separate story is e-commerce for these categories of goods. It is also planned to introduce “Russian shelves” on marketplaces. Although, according to some experts, this is more difficult to do in online trading. Aggregators and online stores will have to provide priority placement of offers for the sale of Russian goods. Preliminarily, the first 50 cards that will be visible to the buyer.

True, the Association of Internet Trade Companies (AKIT) does not entirely agree with this formulation of the issue. They claim that such an approach will lead to significant costs on the part of the sites: “the choice of sales mechanisms should be up to online players.”

So far, the players in this market know nothing about the timing of the introduction of the law, if, of course, it is adopted. And about the volumes or areas in which domestic products should be established.

According to the executive director of the Russian perfumery and cosmetics association, Alexandra Skorobogatova, the law is necessary, although nothing fundamentally new will happen with its adoption.

“Domestic manufacturers who have met the strict requirements of retail chains are already selling their products there,” she reports. – The majority of manufacturers do not meet the conditions of retail chains; they use Internet services.

Most likely, she suggests, with the adoption of this law, certain changes should occur in retail chains. However, sales figures are unlikely to change much.

Chairman of the Board of the Association of Market Retail Experts (AKKORT) Andrey Karpov confirms that both buyers and retailers still have an attachment to foreign brands that are on the shelves. There are more than 50% of them in various categories; they mainly come to Russia through parallel imports.

But if the need arises to find space for Russian goods, then no problems will arise.

“These are working moments, we periodically change our suppliers,” he says, “we update the range of products. The main thing is that our partners comply with the terms of the agreement.

– But manufacturers of cosmetics and perfumes often complain about excessive demands placed on them by retail chains. Are you not going to soften them?

– Retail chains are not interested in empty shelves. There is nothing draconian in our requirements; these are ordinary world standards that have been developed over the years. Therefore, we will not change them, and we cannot. We are not going to provide any benefits for individual Russian manufacturers in terms of reducing their requirements.