Consumer patriotism and domestic quality. How Belarusian trade has changed since the sanctions

Walking through the metropolitan supermarket or looking into the store in the district center, it is easy to notice how the picture of shopping halls has changed in recent years. Where previously dominated by imports, today confidently entrenched domestic brands. And it’s not just about regulating the market or changing logistics: there’s a conscious shift in consumer behavior that analysts call consumer patriotism. Details - in the material of the correspondent of the agency "Minsk-Novosti".

Economic ethnocentrism

Belarus is not alone here. Currently, the global market is experiencing a large-scale crisis of confidence in multinational corporations, and in its place comes the so-called cultural localism.

The most striking example of this is China. Just 10 years ago, young people in Beijing and Shanghai were lining up for Western clothing and gadget brands. Today, the powerful trend of Guochao (“national wave”) dominates in China: Generation Z defiantly chooses local brands that reinterpret traditional Chinese aesthetics. Wearing domestic clothes for Chinese youth is a sign of prestige and cultural confidence.

Similar processes have taken place in Russia. The departure of Western players provoked not a shortage, but an explosive growth of domestic fashion. In the fashion industry and retail, there is a steady demand for local identity. Buyers no longer want to overpay for a foreign logo, and there is a reassessment of the importance of local products in everyday consumption. Globalization is giving way to pragmatic economic ethnocentrism.

Balance the reasonable

In Belarus, this process is developing systematically. The Ministry of Antimonopoly Regulation and Trade (MART) sets an ambitious goal to increase the share of sales of domestic products in retail to 58%. The first step has already been taken: by the end of the half-year, a confident 54.6% was recorded. According to Natalia Melnikova, Head of the Department of Trade and Catering, Belarusian manufacturers need to more actively declare themselves in the information field, proving the safety and leadership of their products.

MART uses purely economic support tools: more than 1,000 business entities have already voluntarily joined the developed agreement on improving sales efficiency, including the largest retail chains and leading marketplaces.

At the same time, the regulator fundamentally refuses to create artificial “greenhouse” conditions for national companies. The domestic market should develop within the framework of healthy competition, without barriers to quality imports. Only this balance stimulates plants to modernize, expand their lines, introduce new technologies and prevents stagnation.

Independence arithmetic

This strategic approach has received strong support from the financial sector. The state program of preferential lending "For native goods" at an affordable 4% per annum translated the slogan "Buyer pile" into the plane of accurate everyday calculation.

Belarusians have already signed about 300 thousand such contracts, sending more than 2 billion rubles to the real sector of the economy. This money did not go to foreign accounts, but remained in the republic in the form of salaries, taxes and investments in the social infrastructure of the regions. The consumer voted in favor of independence.

Domestic bet

And if the food autonomy of the country (where the self-sufficiency for milk is a record 300%, and for meat – 140%), we are used to taking for granted, then a quiet revolution is taking place in the non-food segment. Of the 366 critical positions in the official list of import substitution, 341 items fall on manufactured goods.

Buying complex household appliances of Belarusian production, people choose predictability: availability of original components in warehouses and a developed network of authorized service centers in regions where prices do not depend on currency fluctuations and the vagaries of external logistics. The times when domestic brands were treated with skepticism are long gone. The buyer became more demanding, and manufacturers had to accept this challenge, winning the shelves with naturalness, strict standards and preservation of classic recipes.

VDNH under one roof

As a result, consumer patriotism has received a tangible infrastructure form. A striking example is the “Pershy Natsyanalny Gandlyov House” in Minsk, where branded stores of key manufacturers from all regions of the country are gathered on one site.

Initially focused on domestic demand, the complex expectedly became a noticeable point on the tourist map: it is actively visited by guests from neighboring countries, mainly from Russia. Buyers are attracted by the opportunity to find products of regional enterprises without long searches - from furniture to textiles and food products. The experience of this platform has shown that domestic brands are able to generate steady traffic and close the needs of the audience without relying on the past Western franchises.

Choosing local brands has become a common choice for millions of people. This is the main marker of the maturity of society.

The modern buyer chooses more than just a label – he chooses quality, functionality, predictability and, ultimately, the well-being of his country. Judging by the crowded shopping halls and renovating city streets, this choice is made completely consciously.