Improvement of marketing of coal mining enterprises considering instability in demand for coal

The comparative analysis of the dynamics of production volumes and commodity sales and residues of coal at warehouses of coal enterprises is performed as well as the analysis of changes in the structure of shipment of coal to various categories of consumers. The issues of evaluating the effectiveness of sales activities at the coal enterprises are considered. The study shows constant fluctuations in coal market, unstable demand for coal products, impact of seasonal factors on the formation of a material stream of coal production, and growth of coal residues in warehouses. It is one of the specific features of the processes of logistics activities in the coal industry. On the basis of long-term scientific research on the control of logistic activity of coal enterprises the feasibility of differentiation of consumers of coal products to large-, medium- and small customer based on the volume of their annual demand is justified. On the basis of generalization of various scientific sources the ways of improving the organization of marketing activity of the industrial enterprises of 5 systematized classification features are proposed: improvement of the legislation on the implementation of coal products; improvement of the system of contractual work with consumers; formation of the sales network; development of a system of customer service; improvement of the efficiency of the organization of product sales to consumers. Based on the features of the functioning of the coal industry the directions of improving the organization of marketing activity of the coal enterprises in an uncertain demand for coal by using modern information technologies are identified. Among them are: conducting market research to analyze the coal market; search for new segments of the market coal sales; improving the organization of distribution on the basis of introduction of modern information technologies DRP and DRPII: the development of procedures for the selection of effective distribution channels based on special software for settlements with the help of economic and mathematical methods; development of methods for inventory using software and electronic document management systems for efficient inventory management; expansion of warehouse space for storing coal products; process improvement services to various categories of consumers of coal enterprises through the introduction of software systems for e-commerce and CRM; the use of automated processing of documents for registration of transport of goods; long-term contracts for the supply of coal products, which must be indicated on collection of penalties in case of failure of the purchase order.