According to the Association of retail companies (ACORT), from the beginning of June fully or partially opened approximately 55% of stores selling clothes and shoes, almost 85% of home appliances and electronics and almost 99% of trade outlets in the construction materials sector. Non-food retail was the hardest hit. According to the HSE, the possible total loss of this segment amounted to 6.1 trillion rubles (fell by 35% by 2019). The maximum drop in sales of recorded sports shops and segment DIY (do it yourself): in April – may, 90% in June, after a partial opening by 50-70%. “At the electronics stores, the drop was a little less due to their use of channel online sales. The transition of non-food shops on the online format could not compensate for losses: the results 2019 at him had only 6.1% of sales,” said the HSE.
“Traffic is gradually restored, on the consumer activity impact pent-up demand, as well as additional discounts. People go shopping purposefully, don’t walk,” says managing Director of the company “the sport master” Sergey Agibalov. “Two months of complete inactivity, formed during this time, excess product and the fact that now we are nearing the season of high discounts, of course, have a negative impact on financial performance. However, in the newly opened stores, we see an increase in purchasing activity over the same period last year. Conversion to purchase higher almost twice”, – added the representative of “the Snow Queen” Olga Demidova.
Retailers have noted a significant change in consumer behavior towards a more conscious and prudent approach to the purchase. “Spontaneous purchases is much smaller. People have become more practical. On the one hand, during the isolation they miss the shopping. On the other, go to the store to close a specific need. This once again confirms the theory that online is not able to fully replace the live shopping” – emphasizes Olga Demidova.
At the same time, according to the forecasts of retailers, to restore the old monthly turnover of non-food retail will be at best by the end of 2021 or early 2022.
