One of the largest producers of dairy products in Russia - French Danone has developed a trademark specifically for X5 Retail Group stores (Pyaterochka, Perekrestok, Karusel) in the Moscow region, Petersburg and the Leningrad region, representatives of the companies told Vedomosti. Speech about the brand "Prince Vezic", owned by Danone, added representative X5: milk, sour cream, butter of this brand will be delivered to retailer stores. The year the parties tested the project, after which the production of "Prince Vezhich" became part of the permanent assortment of X5, the representative of the latter added.

In addition to the partnership with X5, Danone has been developing a similar project for another two years with another large network - Magnit, adds Vitalius Paulus, vice president of marketing for Danone Russia. To name the brand, which the company produces only for "Magnet", he refused. The representative of Magnit did not answer this question. In Rospatent there is no data on the registration of the brands of Danone, represented exclusively in the "Magnet". "Vedomosti" visited two metropolitan stores of this network and did not find there exclusive products from Danone. An employee of one of the competitors of "Magnit" assumes that we are talking about some positions from the standard range of Danone, which, besides Magnit, other retailers are not interested.

Another large producer of dairy products - PepsiCo also has experience of exclusive production for one retailer, says a company representative, without revealing the details.

Usually large networks purchase products under brands of manufacturers or place orders for them to manufacture goods under their own trademarks (STM). Cases when large producers of dairy products create brands specifically for the network, rather individual, confirms the executive director of Soyuzmolok Artem Belov.

Independence from one manufacturer is one of the advantages of STM, the representative of Dixy Vladimir Rusanov points out. So, for "Dixie", according to him, the same dairy products can produce several different manufacturers.

Dairy products - one of the main products for retail: they account for about 30% of sales of all packaged consumer goods, according to Nielsen. At the same time, this is one of the problem categories: from October 2016 to September 2017, sales of dairy products in kind in Russia fell, according to Nielsen, by 4.7%.

The manufacturer's goal in creating an exclusive brand for the network can be to load excess production capacity and improve relations with the largest retailers, believes Bain & Company's junior partner Evgeny Belashchenko. For the manufacturer, such a partnership is interesting primarily for the opportunity to sell more, that is, to take more space on the retailer's shelf, Belov believes. This will increase sales, confirms Paulus.

The product "Prince Vezic" Danone produces at its Belarusian facilities, according to the information on the packaging. The brand is conceived with the idea of ​​"high quality of Belarusian products", explains the choice of the site Paulus. Previously, X5 established the delivery of products of the Belarusian Nesvizh baby food factory under the brand "Sarafanovo", which the network and the enterprise own on an equal footing.

The interest of networks to joint projects with Belarusians is connected with the myth of the allegedly higher quality of Belarusian products, Belov believes. Trust in Russian products is also undermined by public statements about the high share of falsification in the market, including by officials, he complains.

Trade networks are experiencing a shortage of quality dairy products, the representative of X5 argues, because of which the prices for it grow much faster than inflation. The new products, specifically designed for X5 networks, will ensure stable quality and uninterrupted deliveries and can contain price increases, he believes: unique brand names are always cheaper than comparable brands, since they do not require large marketing and advertising costs. Exclusive goods allow the retailer to manage the margin in a stable and predictable manner, says Dmitri Shvetsov, director of operations with retailers of Nielsen Russia, who does not always succeed in working with the tender model, when the supplier can tear down the terms or volumes of deliveries. In addition, the buyer can not compare the cost of exclusive goods, which means that the networks have more freedom in pricing, adds Shvetsov.

This approach helps to distinguish from other retailers, agrees representative X5. In addition to dairy products, he said, the company sees prospects for strategic partnerships with suppliers of frozen bread, fruits, vegetables, groceries and meat semi-finished products.