Among the variety of retail outlets operating in each city, buyers choose two or three of the most convenient, corresponding to their requirements in terms of assortment, prices and distance from home or place of work. But they are ready to go to some hypermarkets for several kilometers if the difference in the price of the goods differs significantly from the store located nearby.
Drawing on the experience of Western European countries
Since 2003, a new chain of hypermarkets began operating in the territory of Tatarstan. For the first few years, it bore the name “100 Best Products” until, from 2005, it consolidated its current official name - “ESSEN”. The founders of the network were two entrepreneurs: L. A. Baryshev and V. E. Maheev. The idea of ​​opening stores came to one of them after visiting a similar hypermarket in Spain. It belonged to the French company Caffefour. Subsequently, the specialists of the ESSEN hypermarket chain were trained by their Western European colleagues in establishing services in Russia.
The first store of entrepreneurs Baryshev and Maheev was opened in Yelabug, the second - a year later in Almetyevsk. By the end of 2005, when the company began to bear the name “ESSEN”, which means “Food” in German, it had six hypermarkets in six cities of the Republic of Tatarstan. However, in its capital, Kazan, it opened only in December 2016.
Convenient and profitable format
The founders of the chain oriented the form of activity for their stores on the principle of Cash & Carry - trading pavilions more reminiscent of storage rooms, where the entire stock of goods is exhibited in open halls. A kind of such hypermarkets is a retail chain that offers customers an existing range of products at wholesale prices.
In the early 2000s in Russia, only a few companies worked on the principle of "Essen". The network of hypermarkets that opened in Tatarstan was notable for the lower price of the products presented, since with the Cash & Carry self-service format there was no need to maintain a large staff of employees who lay out and replenish shelves. So, to lay in the cost of goods the wages of staff serving buyers. The simplified interior, which does not require additional costs for decorating the halls, also influenced the low cost of production. Price has become the main attractive side for buyers.
Warehouse store in the Russian manner
The principle of operation of the ESSEN hypermarket chain is somewhat different from the typical Cash & Carry. The Western European warehouse store is focused on a regular - personalized - mass customer. All consumers are provided with personalized cards, their data is entered into a single customer base of the network. To buy goods in a similar store in Europe, you must be listed. ESSEN simplified this function, taking as a basis the principle of hypermarkets, without reference to a regular customer base.
This step was justified. The concept of the classic Cash & Carry is convenient for the seller, but not for the buyer. Often, if the customer is not a large wholesaler, it is more convenient to purchase goods at the nearest store, and not where he has a personal code. In addition, the typical Cash & Carry for an occasional buyer is closed, passing by will not be able to buy anything in it. It is much more profitable to serve each visitor according to the principle of work of hypermarkets.
The first in the Volga Federal District
In addition to the Republic of Tatarstan, ESSEN stores operate in Udmurtia, Kirov and other republics and regions. If initially in the big cities one trading pavilion was opened, then today they are located in two, as in Nizhnekamsk, Elabuga, and three, as in Naberezhnye Chelny and Almetyevsk. The network has expanded to the level of establishing its own shopping complexes. In such cities as Bugulma, Zelenodolsk, Kazan, Sarapul and others there is a chain of ESSEN hypermarkets. Moscow is on the list of cities where company owners intend to open one of their stores.
Today, several hundred thousand people appear as regular customers of ESSEN. Residents of the Volga Federal District managed to appreciate the convenience of stores of this format, constant discounts on a particular product. According to customer reviews, in the ESSEN chain, during the period of promotions, the price reduction is much more noticeable than in other hypermarkets. So, with a unit cost of one thousand rubles, it can be purchased for 800 or even 700. The difference is quite significant. On average, for any expensive product there is a price reduction of 100-150 rubles.
Network Discounters
In 2010, the ESSEN hypermarket chain opened several stores of a new type - Hard Discounter. This format of outlets has also been borrowed from the West. Approximately one thousand square meters using a minimum of shelving and equipment placed goods in the range of two thousand items. For the convenience of customers nearby is a convenient parking area. The new stores were called Essen Express.
Three years later, in 2013, the network introduces a new type of retail outlets, with the common name “At Home”. Shops of this format were opened in Bugulma, Naberezhnye Chelny and several other cities. And a year later, in 2014, in the same place, in Tatarstan, one after another, Essen Green shopping supermarkets were being established. The term “green” is translated from English into the name of stores because of the assortment of fresh products: meat, fish, vegetables and fruits. In the Volga Federal District (Volga Federal District), ESSEN, a network of hypermarkets, has tightly entered the life of the population. Almost every resident of the region can inform the guests of the republic about the contacts and addresses of outlets in their village.
Quality and assortment benchmark
Thanks to the established relations with manufacturers of goods, prices in ESSEN stores are noticeably lower than the rest of super- and hypermarkets located in the same city. Clients themselves choose a convenient form of payment, willingly use savings cards, promotions. Affect the steadily growing number of customers and ongoing discounts on a particular product of the ESSEN hypermarket chain. The founders and the management of the company perceive customer reviews as a guide to action.
We study the demand, the opinion of consumers of products regarding quality. Here you can buy goods and economy class, and first class. Customer reviews also affect the design of stores in terms of product storage. Many praise not only the quality of the goods, but also the ease of movement along the wide corridors of outlets. Taking into account the opinions of customers, an assortment of another delivery is also being formed.
Geographic Expansion
Nearly fifteen years after its triumphant appearance on the land of the Republic of Tatarstan, the ESSEN hypermarket chain managed to gain the interest of customers in Chuvashia, Mari-El, Udmurtia, and the Republic of Bashkortostan. The number of cities is growing, where either the stores of the network itself or its discounters are being equipped.
Significantly expanded the list of outlets acquired by ESSEN in 2012, the Camilla chain, which at that time had about 80 own supermarkets. Most of them are now called Essen. The St. Petersburg hypermarket chain does not yet have retail outlets established by the entrepreneurs of Tatarstan. However, expanding the geography of the network beyond the Volga Federal District is just around the corner, as ESSEN offers customers exclusively halal products - everything that is allowed by Islam. This form is welcomed not only by Muslims of Russia. A multinational country respects the traditions and principles of life of the peoples living in the state. This confirms the growing number of stores and customers of the ESSEN chain.