TRENDS IN THE DEVELOPMENT OF DISTRIBUTION AND RETAIL SALES OF CONSUMER GOODS IN THE CONTEXT OF INTEGRATION PROCESSES IN THE RUSSIA’S TRADE

Distribution services have great influence on the living standards of the population, being in direct contact with it and thereby playing an important social role in the economic life of society. Trade is an important component of distribution services, and its development trends are largely determined by the integration processes in the economy. In this regard, the goal of the study is to analyze the main trends in the development of distribution and retail sales in the consumer market. The main factors that influence the level of distribution and sales have been identified to solve this problem by the example of the Russian Federation as the state described by high differentiation of the level of trade development in its regions. As a result of the study, it has been found that the urban population weight and the retail space have the greatest influence on the level of distribution and retail sales development. At the same time, the retail space per capita is primarily interconnected with the development of network forms of trade, while the development of nonintegrated forms is largely determined by the number of trade organizations and population density. A method for estimating the integral indicator of distribution and retail sales development, as well as a comparison with the methods of other authors have been proposed in the study. As a result, the regions have been ranked by this indicator, and a conclusion has been drawn on the relationship between the level of distribution and retail sales with a high population density, described by a high level of economic development. The results of the study are compared with the works of various authors, who also pay great attention to various social indicators of the trade sector development and their relationship with the living standards of the population.