Retailers see big losses if banned to return products to suppliers

MOSCOW, Mar 29 (PRIME) -- Russian retailers may lose hundreds of billions of rubles in revenue in case of introduction of a ban on returning products, which were not sold during a certain time, to suppliers, according to letters sent by the Russian Union of Industrialists and Entrepreneurs to the Industry and Trade Ministry, the State Duma and the government and seen by PRIME late Wednesday.

A relevant bill was submitted to the State Duma, the parliament’s lower house, in January.

At present, retail chains and suppliers may sign agreements encompassing a possibility to return products if this is profitable for both sides, but the legislation prohibits from imposing the inclusion of a return condition.

“Under experts’ estimates, sales of top-5 retail chains may fall by 300–400 billion rubles per year, and net revenue will decline by an average of 5–7%,” Sergei Galitsky, chairman of the union’s commission for trade and consumer market and the founder and former major owner of retailer Magnit, said in a letter to the union’s President Alexander Shokhin.

“Losses will grow by 4%, which will have a significant negative impact on investment attractiveness of the sector and lead to a reduction of market capitalization of largest companies by 15–20%,” Galitsky said.

(57.5598 rubles – U.S. $1)

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