At the end of May, after a two-month downtime in Russia, the former stores of the Polish LPP chain (manages the Reserved, House, Cropp, Mohito and Sinsay brands) started working, which in March completely stopped the delivery of its brands to the Russian Federation, online sales and investment in development.

On May 19, it became known that LPP had sold all Russian assets to a certain Chinese consortium.

The new owner did not receive the right to use the chain's old brands, but will continue to sell the same goods that were already on store shelves.

Therefore, the names of the stores have changed, although they are still recognizable: Cropp has become CR, Reserved has become RE, House has become XC, Sinsay has become Sin, Mohito has been reduced to M. As market participants note, others may return to Russia after that. players, also cosmetically changing the sign.

“After the opening of the stores of the LPP group, which found a partner in buying a business in Russia, information appeared from other brands about the imminent possible opening.

According to information that we have from various sources, this may happen as early as August-September.

These stores are opening and will open on the same squares, as we see in the example of the LPP group, ”Oksana Averkina, deputy head of the Shopping Centers department of the Shop Store company, told RT.

Get brands out of the way

As Alexander Lebedev, academic director of the Management in Retail educational program at the HSE Graduate School of Business, explained to RT, now many international companies are thinking about how to get brands out of harm's way and avoid sanctions risks while maintaining their presence in Russia.

“Because of the sanctions pressure, companies can go to change brands, while maintaining their recognition for the Russian buyer,” he says.

The expert notes that brands of the second or third tier will primarily follow this path.

There have already been reports in the media about the likely resumption of work in Russia of points of the Spanish network Inditex (in particular, it owns the brands Zara and Bershka).

Inditex CEO Oscar Garcia Maceiras has already told reporters that the company is ready to return to Russia when conditions permit.

“In fashion retail, we will see a reduction in the number of flagship mono-brand stores, but goods will be sold in multi-brand stores.

Supplies can be preserved after leaving Russia and due to parallel imports, which are now not pursued in the Russian Federation, ”Lebedev believes.

In his opinion, now the Western players, who have suspended doing business in Russia, understand that the time has come to make a decision about working in the new conditions.

“When there was a wave of statements about the suspension of activities, management simply decided to buy itself time to sit out.

Therefore, they kept retail space, continued to pay salaries.

Now it is already clear that it will not work out, the conditions have changed.

Therefore, everyone is thinking about how to continue working in the new conditions,” the expert explains.

Most Western companies are bound by franchise agreements, which they cannot terminate unilaterally.

“None of the agreements in Russia stipulate the conditions that the franchise can be terminated due to the circumstances that the business is going through now.

Therefore, the head office can only close points that are directly subordinate to them, but they can no longer affect the franchise network.

We are in a strange legal situation,” Lebedev said.

At the same time, analysts believe that many familiar signs are likely to remain.

Now players are thinking about new ways to deliver goods and payment schemes, which have also become more complicated due to banking sanctions.

“Now companies are solving two key issues: finding new logistics solutions for delivering goods to stores and finding partners (for those chains who still want to sell or transfer their business in Russia to partners).

Someone copes with this task faster, as happened, for example, with the LPP group.

In the case of the transfer of business to partners, in 99% of cases it is expected to change the signs (names) of stores to consonant ones, ”says Oksana Averkina.

Stable catering

The most stable situation is in the catering market.

“KFC, as far as we know, was not going to go anywhere, and the largest fast food chain McDonald's, according to the latest news, will continue to work, as it transfers the business to one of its key franchise partners.

The essence of the institution does not change, but the name will be adjusted (most likely, again to a consonant one) and, to a small extent, the menu, ”said Averkina.

According to a company press release, McDonald's has sold its entire Russian business to Novokuznetsk entrepreneur Alexander Govor, who is already the company's franchisee and operates 25 outlets in Siberia.

It is noted that Govor acquires the entire portfolio of the company, but will manage it under a new brand.

It is significant that the network was sold to an affiliate.

“The main franchisee became the buyer.

This suggests that they do not want to completely sever ties with Russia.

In this case, the assets would be sold on the open market.

The squares are one of the main assets of McDonald's.

They themselves generated flows of visitors, people were already used to eating there and would go to any other institution at this address, so buyers could be found easily, ”says Lebedev.

Catering networks are additionally stable because they operate almost entirely on Russian raw materials, so there were no problems with logistics.

As Lebedev noted, Russian franchisees share the risks with the head office by investing their money, and in return they receive, first of all, business mechanisms that allow them to improve their work.

He added that if communication with the head office is interrupted, then we can talk about the degradation of the business model in the long term.

As the expert concluded, “we will definitely not stay hungry and naked,” but the reference form of french fries may change.