Dmitry Tokar, CROC: Retail is a raging volcano in which there are some innovations all the time

Dmitry Tokar: Crisis just urges on a situation, but all trends remain practically the same. For network retailers IT - not core business, but the cost item. Therefore, there is a crisis or it is absent, their priorities always same, and main of them, taking into account an economic situation – cost reduction. As dollar exchange rate strongly grew for the last few years, and the capital equipment of shop and a workplace of the cashier (cash registers, scanners, printers for printing of checks) mainly western production, retailers look for any opportunities to reduce the budget of opening of shops.

Therefore it is clear that there is a search of cheaper producers of this equipment. Also the option of transition to cloud IT infrastructure instead of purchase of own equipment for automation of office is considered, and it is especially frequent - instead of creation and expansion of own data centers. At a cloud of CROC, by the way, many customers from retail in recent years increased. Earlier the Russian retailers were rather afraid to report infrastructure to integrator, now they treat this opportunity calmly, understanding that it better, and cheaper. Moreover, many of them even transfer the accounting documents to a cloud. So, the M.Video company transferred archive of primary accounting documentation to an electronic form which placed with us in a cloud. The cost of use of such service in five years is on average 2-3 times lower than total cost of ownership own electronic archive.

The second important point – regulation of the sphere of retail from the state which every time something "throws up" to retailers. For example, product retailers obliged to fix [1] all turnover of alcohol in the Unified State Automated Information System system (Unified State Automated Information System). It is clear, that all of them implement at themselves this system now. A new problem of retailers - law No. 290-FZ of 7/3/2016 which will take effect since January 1. Cash registers will have to transfer in the online mode to the fiscal data operator information on sales. All retailers now actively prepare for entry into force of this law.

Retail in general very dynamically developing sector of the Russian economy is the such raging volcano in which there are some innovations all the time.

Dmitry Tokar: There was a certain decrease in IT budgets, a miscellaneous in different segments of trade. For example, IT budgets in product retail dropped slightly, by 5-10%, and here sellers of electronics or a DIY segment very sharply reduced IT budgets, having saved, actually, only operating costs. Besides, as well as the companies of many other industries, retailers are afraid to invest in the long-playing projects aimed at business development now.

Dmitry Tokar: Of course, any crisis aggravates competitive struggle, and fight for the buyer gives an incentive to development of loyalty systems. But the matter is that at large retail federal networks of the loyalty program appeared even before crisis therefore to claim that they began to develop especially strongly the last two-three years, it is impossible. More likely, I would note a certain shift of demand towards analytics. Statistics on sales is saved already up, there is an opportunity to analyze it, to make marketing decisions, and, for example, to enter additional discount programs, programs of informing fans of certain assortment positions about new products in this area.

Dmitry Tokar: Leaving of retail in the Internet – a universal trend, with the crisis phenomena not connected. The western market already very long time ago goes on this way, at them already about 3% of GDP fall to the share of Internet trade. At us this indicator falls short also of 2%, but a gain, it is necessary to recognize, considerable. For example, only in the first half of the year 2016 Internet trade on the retail systems of our clients grew more than by 26%. On the relation by 2013th year the volume of Internet trade increased more than twice. Thus, dynamics good, and growth will proceed. Simply in Russia there are the difficulties connected, for example, with very long distances. When the person from Krasnoyarsk or Vladivostok orders on the Internet goods in the company at which the main distribution center is in Moscow or St. Petersburg, there is a serious problem of the goods delivery to the buyer. It turns out that our immense homeland and undeveloped transport infrastructure leave a certain mark on the sphere of Internet trade. I think that over time these shortcomings are leveled, and at some point we will reach the same growth, as in China or in the USA.

Dmitry Tokar: The various solutions connected with mobile devices, allowing to implement, for example, mailing of advertizing content, to hold promotion actions. Actively such interesting segment as the systems of video analytics grows. 5-6 years ago to invest in the serious system of video analytics was for Russia exotic: study how buyers go on a trading floor before what regiments stop on what goods draws more attention of these or those target audiences. Today such systems become demanded, and within the next 2-3 years, I think, will only increase the presence in the field of the Russian retail.

Dmitry Tokar: Not only. Information on movements of buyers in a trading floor is necessary to both marketing specialists, and operating officers. The video analysis of queue on cash desk in hypermarket, for example, helps to understand how many it is necessary to add cash desks on this or that cash line to a specific time frame. It allows to save on the wages fund as it is not required to keep the excess number of cashiers "just in case" any more. The management has an exact analytics, there is a clear understanding of what number of cash desks should be involved in peak hours. We made such project for one network of hypermarkets - implemented a monitoring system and forecasting of number of visitors to simplify management of shops. The solution was implemented on the basis of several open source of the analytical systems. We wrote own software, having replaced with that the whole block of an import product with domestic. Thus we provided to the customer economy about 30% on the total cost of the project at a stage of its implementation and afterwards on the cost of service maintenance. A system models a flow of buyers on the basis of a set of factors – intra day dynamics, a day of the week, micro and macrotrends, a seasonal factor. Now, having forecast accuracy in 90%, the customer can leave the necessary number of cash desks, optimizing a salary fund and simplifying management of shop.

Also hardware solutions of self-service – cash desk, devices of check of the price (price-checker) by means of which buyers can independently look not only the price of goods, but also existence of it of any actions will extend. By the way, self-service development reduces load of shop too, I mean costs for the salary of personnel, - the device delivered in the hall requires only payment of the service contract.

Dmitry Tokar: Cash line and everything that is connected with it - not absolutely our specialization. We are after all traditional "infrastrukturshchik", implementers of various business applications – clouds, services, solutions for joint collective work, internal and external portals, the mail systems, file storages, telecommunication networks. But we densely communicate with colleagues from other IT companies and we know that practically all large retailers who are engaged in product retail – Magnet, X5 Retail Group, Dixy – already implemented the first pilot projects on implementation of cash desk of self-service so further promotion of this technology - a question of the near future.

Dmitry Tokar: It can pathosly sound, but there are practically no services which we would not provide to retailers. Design at construction of engineering infrastructure, including cable and SCS networks, equipment by video surveillance systems, audiovisual recognition, providing shops with all necessary IT infrastructure – telecommunications, the uninterrupted guaranteed power supply, servers, the desktop equipment, the copy equipment and even delivery of cash desks. And also automation of a number of business processes, for example, automation of archives of financial documentation or automation of collecting of video analytics in a trading floor.

Dmitry Tokar: Many so think, but actually in retail many standard, apparently, things are specific. For example, the cost of one port for shop significantly differs from the cost of port for office. In a trading floor of hypermarket big the distance and is a lot of ports. Under cash desk – some ports, under a video surveillance system - others, under audiovizulny recognition - the third. Or other example – the Wi-fi organization. At normal office to conduct a radioprospecting, "hang out" Wi-Fi and receive the guaranteed communication rather easily because clear where there are jobs. In the trade hall when all goods which can shield are not placed yet, it is heavier to conduct a radioprospecting, it is always necessary to consider that somewhere there can be deaf zones.

Dmitry Tokar: In comparison with other industries of the Russian economy the import substitution trend is expressed in retail least brightly. In the retail sphere there is no tough regulation from the state and sanctions from the American and European companies are not applied. Therefore retail corporate IT standards of the western retailers working at the Russian market are strictly observed. And if the western equipment is stated in standards, it also continues to be bought, despite growth of the budget in a ruble equivalent. And here the domestic companies seriously think of import substitution, simplify something, somewhere change lines for systems from more niche little-known vendors. At the same time to claim that domestic retailers in large quantities pass to the domestic equipment, it is impossible. In addition to the purchase price, the price of operation of a piece of equipment, ownership cost is important. Therefore also the domestic retail companies often prefer to buy the western equipment, trying to try to obtain the lowest possible price at the same time. And as retailers are able to bargain better, than somebody, the corporate discount for the equipment allows them to save rather seriously.

Dmitry Tokar: The question is very deep. Online trade assumes a certain maturity of infrastructure of the retailer, a clear understanding that needs to be made, both in terms of specific IT infrastructure, and in the organizational plan. The main problems of multichannel trade (OMNI-Channel) arise right at the beginning, all forget that for multichannel trade the whole methodology should be implemented. The retailer should be defined what range will be sold online and what is for this purpose necessary a warehouse stock. It is necessary to understand what automation equipment is implemented and what should be implemented. For example, automation of a traditional warehouse complex or the distribution center is expected retail network of shops. In case of online trade the warehouse should work by other principles. Respectively, it is necessary to implement additional IT solutions, hardware and software systems. Many think, for example, of implementation of management of transport logistics, especially now those who have an own park as delivery of goods on specific buyers – that's another story.

One more trend – transfer of IT support and Internet platforms on outsourcing. Now, for example, we provide to one very big customer from the sphere of retail service in support of Internet trade from a cloud of CROC. The project is long, the customer is happy and the question of transfer of all technical support of the website on CROC rose organic. Many customers of retail use for placement of the online stores the integrated infrastructure – and kolokeyshen, both a cloud, and outsourcing DPC of CROC.

Dmitry Tokar: Retailers will leave more and more towards outsourcing of services, the equipment, use of cloud computing and infrastructures. The systems of video analytics, self-service of buyers in a trading floor will be demanded. Everything that is connected with mobile applications, will develop very seriously – in particular, mobile payments. For Internet trade the solutions ensuring information security will be more and more demanded. For example, CROC provided the round-the-clock protection against hacker and DDoS attacks online store of one of the leading retailers. The solution allowed to find critical vulnerabilities in software of online store and to neutralize several large DDoS attacks and also to block several hundred thousands of hacker activities, many of which were planned taking into account technical features of the Internet platform of the customer.

Dmitry Tokar: Some innovation things will surely appear. Development will be gained by the audiovisual means placed in trading floors and before an input in shops, video cubes and special show-windows on which can constantly take place and change on a centralized basis advertizing. Though I will note that a lot more advertizing in sales points becomes by normal methods – polygraphy, posters, banners. Many think of such interesting, but still exotic things as robots in a trading floor. Already in practice it is proved that if in newly opened shopping center there are friendly robots, something telling to buyers, in the first 2-3 months attendance of the center increases by 20-25%.

Dmitry Tokar: To estimate the near-term outlook of the Russian retail, it is necessary to look how retail chain stores in the USA, Europe and Japan develop. To us not to avoid the same trends of development because these countries fight for the buyer for a long time and in respect of saturation of city space by shops reached that limit when really it is necessary to invent a lot of things in fight for the buyer. Our market did not reach such extent of saturation yet: on it competitive struggle continues, the stage of merges and absorption was not completed. The Russian retail market is still far from stability.