Identification of consumer development trends in a major city: a market-based approach

The subject matter of this article consists in a comparative analysis of key indicators of consumer market development in major cities of various Subjects of the Russian Federation, which are located in the same macro-region, taking the first three places in the regional hierarchy according to the population of the RF Subject territory, comprising the centres of large urban agglomerations and making a significant contribution to the formation of regional indicators of socio-economic development. The article is based on Federal State Statistics Service data on three RF Subjects namely, Perm Krai, Sverdlovsk and Chelyabinsk regions covering the period from 2007 to 2015. The study is based on the analysis, classification and systematisation of the information of theoretical sources and statistical data relating to the study, as well as on the presentation of the author’s approaches and conclusions. Thus, within the framework of the research, the author considers different theoretical approaches to the consumer market and proposes a definition for the consumer market of a major city, taking into account the specifics of its functioning as an element of the economy of the city. With regard to the identification of development trends, in the framework of the study, new indices have been applied, such as “index of concentration of stationary retail establishments†, “index of concentration of non-stationary retail establishments†, “index of concentration of public canteens, snack bars†, “index of concentration of canteens owned by the educational institutions, organisations, industrial enterprises†and “index of concentration of restaurants, cafes, bars†. These indices characterise the degree of concentration of different types of retail establishments and catering establishments within a defined territory. According to the research, all cities included in the scope of the study have been grouped according to the identified consumer market development trends. The author has also developed a number of recommendations for the public authorities and local governments for improving the consumer markets of studied cities.