Consumer services for the population

The service sector recently in Russia, as they say, goes ahead with leaps and bounds. An increasing number of people prefer to solve any domestic problems not in their own strength, but to seek help from specialists in that significant segment of the market called "consumer services for the population." Laundry, dry cleaners, beauty salons, Workshops for the repair of cars and household appliances and other consumer services enterprises.

The constantly increasing demand for household services contributes to the development of existing organizations and the opening of new ones. The forms of serving the population can be very different, but they are all aimed at the most complete satisfaction of the needs of people in need of maintenance. So specially for busy customers who do not have time to visit the consumer services (beauty salon, repair shops of radio equipment and others) it is common practice to visit specialists at home. Moreover, some types of work are performed only at the client's house (apartment cleaning, minor repairs, cleaning curtains).

Many experts believe that the demand for consumer services remains stable and from year to year has recently increased by about thirty percent. This is due, first of all, to the desire of people who have a high level of prosperity, to improve the quality of life and save time on what is called "everyday affairs".

And yet, household services in Russia are significantly different from those in the West. In Europe and in America, the organization of public services is mainly due to private entrepreneurship and the creation of family enterprises, whereas in our country these are collective forms of management. Thus, the owners of household enterprises in the country are mainly labor collectives - 63 percent of all enterprises. Further (23%) are legal entities, and only 13% of all consumer services enterprises belong to private individuals.

An interesting feature that differs household services in Russia is the performance of additional types of work not directly related to maintenance. This is due to the desire of many of them to survive in the difficult conditions of the Russian market, when the service organization faces many problems typical for small businesses in Russia as a whole.

Among these difficulties, the most serious are the difficulties, sometimes insurmountable, in attracting investments and obtaining credit resources, the lack of production facilities that perfectly correspond to the sanitary standards for consumer services enterprises, the lack of trained and qualified workers for work, especially cutters, tailors, shoemakers And specialists in the repair of complex household appliances. And, finally, the development of the market is strongly hampered by the lack or imperfection of legal regulation in the industry.

Other problems encountered by the newly created enterprises are quite solvable - in particular, insufficient awareness of the population about the services provided by the service enterprises. This problem is solved by conducting advertising campaigns in the press and on the Internet, placing ads in transport, making banners, stretch marks, pillars and other promotional materials. The forms of serving the population also need to be improved and developed.

But in any case, public service enterprises, with due efforts on the part of their owners, can bring in a good income and be an integral part of the everyday life of a huge number of people.