What kind of year was 2012 for the Georgian retail market?

A reminder: The largest shopping network "Carrefour" has entered Georgia the current year and opened the first hypermarket in the country in “Tbilisi Mall" center. It became also known about the plans of Ukrainian "Fourshet" regarding the entry into the Georgian market.

The changes have already occurred in the operating supermarkets: "Ioli" purchased "Populi" network. But this time the re-branding of the companies has not been carried out, and both companies continue to work independently on the market.

At the same time, more criticism in terms of "Populi" service quality has recently been heard.

Experts estimate changes in the market.

After "Carrefour" entry, along with an increase in competition, consumers oriented on price moved to "Carrefour" while "Goodwill" attracted many users by opening new facilities in Tbilisi. PR expert Eldar Pirmisashvili states commersant.ge.

In his words, “Carrefour” has occupied low-price niche in the market but, in his estimation, other players also offer low prices in Georgian market and users only benefit.

"The organized trading market does not occupy a large share, in contrast to the unorganized trade which doesn’t really offer a high level service," – Pirmisashvili notes.

According to him, taking into account the price factor, most buyers go to the market because after "Big - Ben" a customer has a feeling that products purchased in a good environment should be expensive, but Pirmisashvili explains that the bigger trading unit is, the lower price it offers and the previous attitude must be changed.

As the expert notes, today most low income consumers visit "Carrefour" while consumers of average income come in "Goodwill", but Pirmisashvili adds that the premium segment niche is underdeveloped in the market, and if in future any world brand occupies this niche in Georgia, it will be profitable for this business.

"There are talks about “Vol-Mart" entry in the market but this was the information intended for the preparation.

A business trainer David Kenchadze has a different view and says that a fact you are a world brand gives nothing to Georgian user.

"Carrefour” is not a famous brand for Georgian consumer and, correspondingly, marketing activity and strategy should be individualized and tailored to the specific country. “Carrefour” strategy is to enter the so-called mass -market, in other words, a massive consumer and makes it through a pricing strategy, under which most demanded products are cheaper at their store.

It is intended that the consumer who buys sugar, potatoes, and so on will also buy such products which have a relatively high margin. Ultimately, “Carrefour” looks at its average margin and not just at a margin of a specific product. Its purpose is to create the following impression in the buyer's mind:”Carrefour” is a place where everything is bought at a low price and advertising is totally adequate, "- Kenchadze notes.

Source:www.commersant.ge