‘The arrival of Auchan chain stores is an important event for the city of Yekaterinburg and a real challenge for local shops. The new rival will make many sellers reconsider their pricing and supplier policy and range of products; it will also affect the customers’ buying behavior,’ the Marketing and Advertising Director of Monetka Trade Center Alexei Gribanov said to UrBC representative.

‘No local retailer can boast of such a competitive advantage as being located on the premises of MEGA, a huge trade center. This factor is going to make Auchanan even more influential player on the market,’ Mr Gribanov said.

‘The wholesale markets and weekend-shopping supermarkets, located both separately or inside a trade center, will be the ones most significantly damaged by the opening of Auchan supermarket. These are their current customers that are likely to switch to the new store, and the greatest part of them will probably do so at the very beginning, since people are prone to take interest in something new,’ Mr Gribanov observed.