What you can learn from this article

•  What is strategy

•  What mean to be unique

•  How you should define you real and wanted position on the market

•  What finance indicators should be represented in strategy of medium business

•  What is the primary objective of marketing plan


Natalia Chinenova graduated Russian Economical Academy named after Plekhanov (the course “merchandise knowledge and settlement of trade”, Moscow Academy of Economy and legal Power by occupation “management”. Since 1982 year she has worked in the area of clothes trade. She began her administrative career with the post of shop manager, lately she became a director of a retail chain. Natalia was medaled by 850 – years of Moscow and was given by the honorary certificate for the best window-dressing. She came to SELA Corporation in 1999 year. During her working she opened more than 300 shops of TM SELA, and besides the online store SELA Shop. In 2003 she headed SELA Corporation office in Kiev, and in 2007 year – in Moscow. Since 2009 year she has headed SELA corporate headquarters in Russia.


Industry sector: clothes trade

Form of organization: ZAO

Territory: Head office is in Moscow, representations in St. Petersburg, Ukraine, Byelorussia, and Kazakhstan

Staffing level: 1500 (in Russia)

Annual turnover: more than 200 million $US (in 2009 year)

Number of shops: 561 in a world and 445 in Russia

Length of service in capacity of General Manager: since 2003 year

Interest of General Manager in business: mercenary manager


In the east it is settled that the best strategy- it’s deficiency of strategy. In this case You may plastically react on external influence and competitive landscape. European principle of formation of strategy is hard planning and budgeting, their aim is to obtain well-defined results. In my opinion, a strategy of an enterprise doesn’t be more than several tomes and doesn’t contain many economical calculations and diagrams. It’s enough to formulate primary targets and to define the terms of their achievement, moreover a strategic plan shouldn’t be a dogma, and it may change in reply to external calls. For me a strategy is, first of all, the answers on these questions:



•  What is uniqueness of a company?
•   What place does a company take on market and what place does it plan to take?
•  What financial results we want to achieve?



Uniqueness of a company

Uniqueness of MacDonald’s company is a service rate, the honor of chain of coffee house “Starbucks” is coffee of high quality, and the distinctive feature of ZARA brand is a frequent refresh of collections of modern and inexpensive clothes. For example, a good accessibility for client, individual attention to every client (VIP- service for reasonable money), and the guaranty of supply of goods of prime necessity and so on can be advantages for a small company. For example, if you open a shop of a famous brand in a city with population size 50 000 people, in this case, belonging to a famous brand and accordance to international standard of service would be your distinctive features, simply said- high service in comfort conditions.




Uniqueness, about which you would tell market, should be support by mission and values which would be share by all your employees. For example, a mission of a branded shop may be this: “to dress people beautifully”. But values of a company are the code of practice, which you and all your employees follow. For example, an employee of “Starbucks” company never throws a slip of paper past an urn and an employee of “MacDonald’s” never sits near cash-desk. Our salesman never would be uncivil with a costumer and never put out a visitor who can’t choose, even if a working day is finished.





If you are the owner of a young company, you can single aims and advantages for costumers by yourself. If you are working on market for a long time and you have loyal clients, you should involve them to definition of the mission and to searching your differential characteristic. In the time of the interrogation, I don’t recommend to ask what clients dislike and what they want to improve in company’s work or in its goods. In this case your aim is to identify your strong points and you should ask respondents about them. You should work on the principle: “to strengthen strong”. These questions would be suit:

-    Why do you choose our company?
-    What attract you in our product (service)?
-    What influence on your choice in a greater degree?

With the help of these questions your client should name 5-7 distinctive features of your product. Having generalized received answers, you understand what, accordingly to your client’s opinion, distinguish your company from competitors. At determining your exclusiveness it’s very impotent to say the truth by simple words.

Position on the market

To distinguish your position on the market you may in different ways. You may collect information about condition on the market in your region. This information is published on different MSM and official saits (for example on Goskomstat sait www.gks.ru; but, to say the truth, you may find there only facts which were two years ago). You may conduct a special investigation (it’s possible to charge the consumer and competitor survey to either an outside agency or your own marketing experts. In this case you would have more actual and exact information (in other words it would be not countrywide average numbers but average numbers of your city or region). Besides you would be able not only overall figures about costumers but more interesting information. For example, some years ago, the basic parameter of targeted audience was age. Today, age of consumers is not so impotent as a behavior pattern which they choose and belonging to one or another social group.
Examining competitors, pay your attention not only on a company which carry on the same business, but besides on these company which offers goods and services to the same category of consumers as you. For example you work with consumers with below average income, so, in this case grocery business is your principal competitor, because consumers with below average income spend 50% of their income on food.

To understand what competitors has offered to consumers help you to find your own niche. If you manage to do it you will get growth of income from 5 till 20% annually.

Economic indicators

An impotent part of strategic plan is economic effect of activity. In the medium business you should plan on what level will be your investment, expenses, rescue and profit, and besides what kind should be return on assets of banks on laid-down capital toward expenses and toward rescue. For example, all the property owners and top management should achieve consent about does it enough for a company to break even or it should give not less than 20% on laid-down capital annually.


Marketing plan


Having defined the strategy of your business you should develop a plan of its realization, in other words marketing plan. The primary objectives of marketing are to bring consumers to the company, in other words to tell consumers about the company and to fix up with availability of product or service in the right place at the right time. In other words, If strategy is the idea for which you come to market then marketing plan is the instrument of achievement of intended purpose. There should be the information: who, what, when and where and how should work.
If you draw up marketing plan by yourself, I recommend including several main classes.


1.  Benchmarks. For example, you plan to increase the turnover of your enterprise twofold for three years.  In this case you should document economic indicators which are achieved currently in your marketing plan and you should define volume of investments which will be oriented to development of business in nearest two years.

2.   Opportunities for business development. Even if your company doesn’t plan to open new branches, you should write down in your marketing plan further (intensive) development and plan variants of business widening on prevailing market.

3.  Methods of widening of circle of customers. In this division of marketing plan you should clearly articulate all possible ways of widening the audience and give substantiations of reality of application of these methods. May be, for achieving your aim, you should add assortment of your goods or become familiar with novel ways of its realization (to find new channels of sales). For example, you may consider practicability of opening an online store.

4.  Opportunity of taking a good profit. The main points of this division are not calculation of abatement of enterprises’ expenses but definition the most profitable price level on product. The price should build maximal growth of turnover. You should base on indexes which are achieved by your competitors.

5.  Modernization of activity. Strategic aims may be achieved by adaptation of new technology, reorientation of the enterprise, alteration of premises and other innovative actions. It’s not enough just to list all the innovative ideas. You should compose timing schedule of their realization, payback. Besides, you should put the list of employees responsible for every innovation.

6.  Rising of recognizability and attraction for consumers. In this division all the publicity events, PR-action and action of stimulation of trade and raising costumers to your brand are named. Recommendations are completed by given promo materials and their models which are developed special for your business and region.

7.  Assessment of efficiency of company’s marketing activity. The final chapter of marketing plan should contain key figures accordingly which the enterprise can evaluate operating results swiftly and in the case of need make changes in strategy and marketing plan.

8.  It would be right to tell the accountant to make on the base of marketing calendar financial plan. In such a way, you would be sure that marketing plans are reconcilable with financial possibilities of your enterprise.