In the three quarters of 2021, sales of STM vegetable oil increased by 47.7%. This is the most impressive growth of all products that are sold under private brands of retailers, according to data from NielsenIQ (RG has it). Sales of pasteurized STM milk increased by 20.7%.Among other products that go into the STM are mayonnaise (+55.6%), beer (+38.8%), dried seafood and snacks (+33.4%).
The share of STM sales in the consumer goods market increased to a record 5.5% over the year. And in food, it was 16.7%. The largest share of cash sales by the end of September is dairy products (18.1%), confectionery (12%), alcohol (11.7%), soft drinks (10.4%), canned vegetables (6.8%).
“Buyers’ attempts to optimize the budget and find new ways to reduce costs have led to a new wave of development of STM networks,” NielsenIQ explains. The difference in price with similar brand products is 15-20%.
But so far, the share of STM remains one of the lowest in the world. For example, in the Netherlands, France, the share of STM sales in the consumer goods market is more than 30%, in Portugal – 35%, in Spain – almost 40%, in Switzerland – more than 50%. However, Russia is among the top 10 countries with the highest growth rates of STM sales in the world. “In the coming years, we may witness the explosive development of STM against the background of strengthening the positions of online commerce, express delivery services, as well as discounters, for whom the focus on STM is the basis of business strategy,” NielsenIQ believes.
One of the reasons for the rapid growth of STM, the Director General of the INFOLine agency Ivan Fedyakov calls the increasing pressure of the state on retail. The authorities are particularly closely monitoring the prices of socially important products. And for sunflower oil from the end of December last year to October 2021, prices from producers and in retail chains were completely frozen.
Now in Russia, the share of STM food sales is not so great yet, but in the future it may exceed 50%, the expert believes. STM is a good way to save on products without loss of quality, because the price of such products does not include promotion costs. But too active development of STM can lead to the fact that there will be no place for branded products on the shelves. And if competition is minimized, then it will not be necessary for the retailer to invest in the quality of products, Fedyakov warns. It is not for nothing that in a number of countries of the world the participation of retailers in the production of food is either significantly limited or prohibited. There are no such restrictions in Russia. For example, already now one of the retail chains claims that it fully provides its stores with cucumbers of its own production.
