The 23rd Retail Business Russia 2023 Retail Industry Summit took place at the Imperial Park Hotel & SPA in late October. Kirill Kostyushko, Brand Director of Private Labels (Merlion), participated in the forum's panel discussion and gave a presentation as part of the session "Private Labels vs. Brands."
The Retail Business Russia Summit is one of the key events for players in the retail market and retail trade in Russia. This year, the event was attended by more than 150 top managers of retail chains, brand manufacturers and partner companies, which this year included MegaFon, Sovcombank, OptiTeam Consulting, SteadyControl, Emami Group of Companies, Imredi, GTNT and Gazprombank.
The business program of the event was built around four topics relevant to the entire retail sector - "Buyer-2024", "Private Labels vs. Brands", "FOREVER Store" and "Marketplace Rockets."
The panel discussion "Keeping the Brand! Are Brands Really Needed, or Where is the Ceiling for Your Private Label?" was attended by:
· Maria Gvozdovskaya, Director of the Private Label and Import Development Department of VseInstrumenty.ru;
· Kirill Kostyushko, Brand Director of Private Labels. Merlion;
· Dmitry Lunev, owner of TM im. Kondratova;
· Maxim Kondrat, Director of Private Labels and ETM, Aptechnaya Set 36,6.
During the conversation, the moderator of the panel discussion,Grigory Shanaev, outlined the main problem areas when launching own brands in retail. Discussions on the topic of Private Labels vs Brand are still relevant not only in retail chains, but also among manufacturers. What are the prospects for the growth of Private Labels, whether to focus on launching first-price brands or set more ambitious goals - these and other issues were discussed by leading experts in launching Private Labels of the largest Russian companies.
Then the discussion of Private Labels smoothly moved into a block of cases, where the Brand Director of Private Labels. Merlion Kirill Kostyushko made a presentation "Ecosystem of Private Labels. Merlion 2023", in which he presented an approach to the formation of positioning and promotion strategies for PL.M brands, the marketing tools used for this, as well as several notable cases - the launch of the gaming peripherals brandGMNG, the launch of the high-tech sub-brandDIGMA PRO and the repositioning of the consumer electronics brandStarwind and the launch of theDomfy brand.
"The main tasks of Private Labels. Merlion is to strengthen the sustainability of the business by developing its own vendors, forming intangible assets by creating full-fledged brands with a loyal audience and a high level of recognition, as well as increasing profitability, since brands are bought by those who are willing to make a "principled" choice. At the product level, we turn technology into opportunities accessible to everyone. We do not produce technologies ourselves, but as one of the leading players in the IT and B&E market, we have a deep understanding of them and know how to saturate our products with exactly the functionality and technologies that the consumer needs. In communications, the main thing for us is methodology and craftsmanship. In Russia, it is still customary to consider marketers akin to magicians. But this is not the case at all. The practical part of the presentation was devoted to methods of developing brand strategies and communication platforms, which we develop and use in our work on a daily basis, forming conscious communication with the end consumer," saidKirill Kostyushko, Brand Director of Private Labels. Merlion.
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