The Ministry of Industry and Trade demanded that retail chains provide Russians with a wide selection of newspapers and magazines
The Ministry of Industry and Trade of the Russian Federation sent an official letter to retail chains with a recommendation to expand the availability of printed products for customers by expanding their range, and where they were completely removed from store shelves, to restore the racks and the possibility of choosing them (the document is available to MK) . This step by the authorities was a response to the disappearance of newspapers and magazines in retail outlets — a trend that Russian retailers identified back in 2021, citing the fact that during the coronavirus pandemic citizens began to go shopping less often and sales allegedly went down because of this.
Two chairmen of the Union of Journalists — Russian Vladimir Solovyov and Moscow Pavel Gusev — some time ago sent an appeal to Deputy Prime Minister Denis Manturov to the Ministry of Industry and Trade with a call to return printed materials to supermarket shelves. And then there was a positive reaction from the department. Now the situation on the periodicals market may change for the better, which will benefit Russians, supermarkets, and the media, experts are sure. “In order to ensure the stability of the distribution system for periodical printed products, it is advisable to maintain work with existing distributors as much as possible,” the document from the Ministry of Industry and Trade notes. The department recommends that all decisions that retail chains make regarding presses be carefully considered taking into account the interests of its distributors.
Those retail chains that have already reduced the assortment presented on the shelves of their supermarkets were strongly advised by the Ministry of Industry and Trade to restore it, and , who just reduced it, expand the number of titles.
Russians will have a large selection of newspapers in stores if retail chains take into account the order of the authorities. The Ministry of Industry and Trade suggested focusing on an assortment of 250 positions for ordinary racks and 120 for cylindrical “turntables”.
The advisory nature of orders from the ministry, if poorly implemented, can turn into a legal requirement. “In the event of an improper response from the addressee trade organizations to this letter, measures will be taken aimed at introducing the necessary changes to the legislation of the Russian Federation,” the document emphasizes. Retail chains must inform the Ministry of Industry and Trade about the measures taken by them to ensure the availability of printed media on the shelves in their supermarkets by January 25 of this year.
“An official letter distributed among retail chains defines clearer relations between them and distributors of printed products,” emphasizes MK-APP General Director Tatyana Parshkova. “For example, before the department’s recommendations, in one of the large networks we had difficulties even discussing this problem. The leadership there changed, and they didn’t even want to listen about the importance of the press in Russia at the moment. Despite the good relationship with our publication specifically, the range of printed products was constantly being reduced. However, after the letter from the Ministry of Industry and Trade, a completely different, clear and substantive conversation has already begun on parity terms, which was difficult to imagine before, so the initiative of the department is very important for us and we already feel how the attitude towards the press is changing for the better.
In addition, we do not just want to be on the racks in stores, but we would like to regain our presence on the racks from which we were once removed. Sales from racks previously added up to 50% to turnover, which we would also like to restore.”
Our interlocutor drew the attention of trade organizations to the fact that this document is not just recommendations from the Ministry of Industry and Trade, but a notification that in the future, if they do not take the listed measures, this letter may become the basis for the creation of a federal law, the implementation of which will already be subject to much more stringent requirements. “The distributed letter is an important and positive step by the authorities in regulating the print media market and the entire information field of Russia,” says Parshkova. “We have explained many times that during the SVO and the presidential election campaign, the print media is a key and necessary tool for shaping public opinion , however, this did not generate sufficient response from our partners. After the letter from the Ministry of Industry and Trade, the situation immediately began to change for the better and the conversation with retail chains became much more constructive.”