The service sector in Russia recently, as they say, is moving forward by leaps and bounds. An increasing number of people prefer to solve any domestic problems not on their own, but to seek help from specialists in that significant segment of the market, which is called “public services for the population.” Launches, dry cleaners, and beauty salons are opened everywhere to better satisfy the population’s demand. car repair shops and household appliances and other consumer services enterprises.
Constantly increasing demand for domestic services contributes to the development of existing organizations and the opening of new ones. Forms of public services can be very different, but they are all aimed at the most complete satisfaction of the needs of people who need services. So, especially for busy customers who do not have time to visit consumer services (beauty salons, workshops for the repair of radio equipment and others), home visits are practiced by specialists. Moreover, some types of work are carried out only at the client’s house (apartment cleaning, minor repairs, curtain cleaning).
Many experts believe that the demand for consumer services remains stable and has been increasing by about thirty percent lately from year to year. This is primarily due to the desire of people with a high level of affluence to improve the quality of life and save time on what is called “everyday activities”.
Nevertheless, consumer services in Russia are significantly different from western ones. In Europe and America, the organization of public services is mainly due to private entrepreneurship and the creation of family enterprises, whereas in our country these are collective forms of management. Thus, the owners of domestic enterprises in the country are mainly labor collectives - 63 percent of all enterprises. Next (23%) are legal entities, and only 13% of all consumer services enterprises belong to private individuals.
An interesting feature that distinguishes consumer services in Russia is the performance of additional types of work not directly related to service. This is due to the desire of many of them to survive in the difficult conditions of the Russian market, when the organization of public services is faced with numerous problems that are typical for small business in Russia as a whole.
Among these difficulties, the most serious are the difficulties, sometimes insurmountable, in attracting investment and obtaining credit resources, the lack of production facilities that would ideally correspond to sanitary standards for consumer services, and the lack of trained and qualified workers to perform work, especially cutters, tailors, shoemakers and specialists in the repair of complex household appliances. And finally, the development of the market is hindered by the absence or imperfection of legal regulation in the industry.
Other problems faced by the newly established enterprises are completely solvable - in particular, the lack of public awareness of the services provided by service enterprises. This problem is solved by conducting advertising campaigns in the press and on the Internet, placing ads in vehicles, making banners, banners, pillars and other advertising materials. Forms of public services also need to be improved and developed.
But in any case, consumer services enterprises with due diligence on the part of their owners can bring good income and be an integral part of the daily life of a huge number of people.