15−18 September 2026
Moscow, Crocus Expo, Pavillion 3
Present and future of regional retail
Published on: Nov 21, 2025
Reading Time: 5 min
Ksenia Sokolova
Account Manager
ROMIR
Throughout 2025, the consumer confidence index has been in the positive zone. Now the buyer is quite stable, so we expect an increase in consumer spending.
But at the same time, the consumer remains rational in terms of categories. Due to the high interest rate and, accordingly, high interest rates on loans and mortgages, people are not ready to save a lot of money to buy real estate, a car, jewelry - these are the categories they are ready to give up in the first place. At the same time, the consumer will not refuse the basic shopping basket, which includes food, medicines, fruits, personal hygiene products, etc. In general, the basic basket of a consumer from Moscow and from other cities of Russia is similar, but unlike other Russians, Muscovites are not ready to give up delicacies, delicious solutions to pamper themselves.
The consumer also remains rational in terms of choosing the channel and network to which he goes to make a purchase. The average number of channels in the buyers' wallet is growing quite strongly: compared to 2019, it increased by 23%. On average, a person covers his need for 11 channels.
One of the biggest channels that the consumer comes to first is the "convenience store". Since 2021, its share has been quite stable and today amounts to 32% in the consumer wallet in monetary terms. As for E-grocery and local hard discounters, they have grown 4 times compared to 2021, and their share will only increase, including due to the fact that they will "eat up" small shares from hypermarkets, supermarkets and convenience stores.
The choice of category, network, channel, and product is influenced by the customer's install values. For Russians, safety, family and reliability are primarily important.
If you look at the difference between a man and a woman, women are more looking for security, reliability, optimism, and spirituality. Men, on the other hand, do not pay much attention, for example, to concern for the environment or kindness.
The difference is also present in different age categories. For the oldest group, patriotism and spirituality are the most important, for the younger group – independence, sociality, status and significance. For the middle-aged audience, i.e. the financial and creditworthy core, the most important thing is family, reliability, honesty, optimism and independence.
It is also important to understand that Russia is very heterogeneous, and the place in which a person lives greatly affects the consumer confidence index. Significant differences can be seen even at the level of cities with a population of over one million.
Alexey Altunin
Commercial Director
Miratorg
Regional specifics have a great impact on the assortment, and working with a local manufacturer is a huge growth point. In 2024, Miratorg actively collected contacts of regional players and entered them into the assortment matrix in order to dilute federal brands.
In 2024, Miratorg had two formats: traditional supermarkets with the lion's share of its own production and a chain of stores with a price from the manufacturer. The second format with a more ascetic decoration in the store showed maximum growth, but the main chain also showed positive dynamics.
In 2025, the retail chain opened the format of gastronomic shops and gastronomic showcases with weight products, 90% of which are products of the Miratorg brand. This is a small format, the area of which is about 70 sq. m.
Speaking about product categories, Alexey Altunin noted that in the category of delicacies, the chain provides products of the middle and high price segment, and in the category of alcohol, the emphasis is on imports and products of small wineries of the Krasnodar Territory, the Crimean region.
Sergey Leonov
Founder and Director
Franchising network "Good Choice"
There are three strategic areas of development in the Good Choice network.
// Formation of distribution centers. The company has already formed several large logistics centers and plans to expand them next year in order to receive large volumes directly from manufacturers and align the supply chain. This will bring us closer to the same chain that exists with federal retailers.
// Work with private labels. The share of private labels in the Good Choice chain ranges from 7% to 10%. It is already difficult to bring it to a value of 11-12%. Firstly, because the main buyer is an audience aged 45-60, and these are conservative people who love brands. Secondly, regional chains cannot enter large categories with private labels (for example, frozen or dairy products). The Good Choice chain has united around ten categories that account for 35% of the turnover, and if it manages to get from 5% to 10% of the turnover in these categories, it will already be a huge leap.
// Unification. Now we can see a slowdown in consumption compared to previous years, and this is very similar to price wars. Large chains no longer need to open stores, they need to take traffic. In order to combat this, it is necessary to combine procurement, align the supply chain and move away from those goods that are sold in federal chains, through private labels, the development of their own production, ready-made food, etc. How to do this in a small regional network? Unite.
Svetlana Sadovskaya
General Director
Spar Kaliningrad retail chain
If you pay attention to the most significant categories in the turnover of stores and direct your efforts to their development, you can achieve excellent results. In the SPAR network, these categories are:
// Vegetables and fruits, which account for 15% to 20% of sales in total turnover. The chain develops this category through its own imports, its own external supplies and local producers and has a fairly high margin.
// Own production, which includes meat, fish, salads, cooking, bread, pastries, ready-made food. The share of this category is up to 20%. This block is also characterized by high margins and profitability.
// Dairy category, which occupies up to 15% of the share in turnover, if you also take into account cheeses.
Among the trends in the networks today, the following stand out:
// Coffee points that are in almost every store, and, accordingly, related products. For example, confectionery products that accompany any coffee outlet.
// Ready-made packaged food. Following this trend, SPAR is developing its own kitchen factory. It is a gold mine that is highly sought after by customers. The kitchen factory provides its own retail and works a little for third-party customers. In the kitchen factory, SPAR produces its own sausages, fish delicacies, cakes, and more.
As for formats, the future belongs to "convenience stores". Formats from 400 to 1000 m are the most effective today in Kaliningrad and, probably, in most Russian regions. Walking distance from these stores is one of the important success factors.
Evgeniya Chumachenko
Head of Foreign Economic Activity
Commander
The Commander is in a unique positioning and geolocation mode: the network has the capabilities, competencies and resources to solve the issues of the first price, logistics costs, reduce direct imports and promote its goods, including private labels, outside Russia. For example, Komandor works with retail chains in Mongolia, Kazakhstan and northern China. The number of buyers in China is quite large, so with the successful sale of goods, this channel can be expanded many times in the future.
If we talk about the strategy and how regional retail can survive in the fight against federal chains, then the fact that the company is still positioned as a local one helps the Commander. The fact that the chain has been close to its customers for more than 20 years makes it a priority seller.