Russia's New Fin de Siècle by Birgit Beumers

Author:Birgit Beumers [Beumers, Birgit]
Language: eng
Format: epub
ISBN: 9781783200863
Barnesnoble:
Publisher: Intellect Books Ltd
Published: 2013-07-01T00:00:00+00:00

Market

Тhe transition from a centralized to a free market economy in the 1990s stimulated new forms of distribution. While self-service supermarkets came from the United States to Europe after the Second World War, many of Russia’s shops preserved traditional distribution over the counter well into the first decade of the twenty-first century. Moreover, the Russian customer often relied on the vendor’s opinion and advice when buying products. This habit dates back to the distribution system before 1917 when the merchant’s choice outweighed the significance of individual brands (Rathmayr 2004: 210). The form of distribution – not only available variety – is crucial to the design, which is either accompanied by the words of the vendor or has to speak for itself in the shelf of the supermarket.

The increase of supermarkets towards the end of the first post-Soviet decade went hand in hand with a rapidly growing Russian chocolate production. Konfety continued to be most popular with consumers, and – sold by weight – took approximately half of the market during the post-Soviet era. They tended to be purchased for own consumption and cost about half the price of chocolates in boxes, usually bought as a gift and supposedly of better quality (Anon. 2006). New brands entered the market, including the domestic Russkii Shokolad (Russian Chocolate) in 1998, where the name and the addition ‘made in Russia’ evokes national pride, and Korkunov in 1999. In 2000 Nestlé successfully introduced the brand Rossiia – Shchedraia Dusha (Russia, the Generous Soul). In 2001 Konfael’ joined the market with its eccentric chocolate products, including chocolates cast in the shape of pets or portraits.

Interestingly, the high-end brands Korkunov and Konfael’ did not flirt with Russia’s past, while high-end restaurants such as Cafe Pushkin, which opened in Moscow in 1999 featuring a neo-Russian style, or the restaurant Russkii Ampir, which opened in 2004 in the completely renovated (rather than restored) premises of a St Petersburg palace, attract well-to-do customers with the exoticism of Russia’s past.

Download

Copyright Disclaimer:
This site does not store any files on its server. We only index and link to content provided by other sites. Please contact the content providers to delete copyright contents if any and email us, we'll remove relevant links or contents immediately.