MMK TRADING HOUSE IS GETTING CLOSER TO THE CUSTOMER
As part of the development of its branch and warehouse sales network, MMK Trading House LLC opened 2 new separate divisions and 12 retail sales points in major Russian cities in 2023, the Director of the company Grigory Shchurov said, speaking at the 14th International Conference “Service Metal Centres of Russia: Equipment, Technologies, Market” that took place today in Yekaterinburg.
According to Grigory Shchurov, one of the advantages that MMK Trading House has is its territorial proximity to customers and the high quality of service provided to each client of the Trading House. To date, the company is represented in 36 cities in Russia and in almost all federal districts. In 2023, new branches were opened in Izhevsk and Vidnoye near Moscow. There are plans to open divisions in Taganrog and Belgorod, as well as a second site in Yekaterinburg. The development of the network of sales offices has had a positive impact on the sales volume of the Trading House: for 7 months in 2023, sales were up 14.2% compared to the previous year.
Grigory Shchurov mentioned the further development of retail sales among the company's priorities. In 2022, new retail sales sites were opened in Ufa and Sibai. In 2023, 12 more retail outlets were launched in major Russian cities. The company is working on opening retail outlets in Volgograd and Novosibirsk next year.
Another key area is the development of the corporate marketplace. This year the marketplace was integrated with Gazprombank's electronic trading platform. Online financial tools have been implemented including lending and bank guarantees, as well as a payment method through a Quick Payment System. A mobile application is currently under development, while an automated buyer verification system, the "Auctions" module, is being finalised.
The plans for further development for MMK's e-marketplace include the creation of a personal account of a cooperator, application and support of financial instruments, an introduction of new payment methods, an automated delivery cost calculation system and the organisation of a service for claims work. In the first 7 months of 2023, shipments through the corporate marketplace increased by 122% year-on-year, and the customer base grew by 15%.
An important area that creates added value for steel products is refining and processing. The Company has facilities in place for rebar cutting and production of expanded steel sheets and coils slitting, which facilitates a more holistic and flexible response to customer needs. Since the beginning of 2023, an additional five rebar straightening and cutting units with a total capacity of up to 1,500 tons per month have been acquired and put into operation, along with a 100-ton-per-month capacity expanded steel sheets production unit in Shchelkovo.
A high-capacity unit for the production of masonry mesh is scheduled to be commissioned in Magnitogorsk, and in October, a unit with a capacity of up to 7,000 tons per month for cross-cutting hot-rolled coils into hot-rolled sheet with a thickness of 1.5-12 mm is expected to be delivered to the site in Shchelkovo. Its launch will allow the Trading House not only to meet its own demand for marginal and liquid hot-rolled sheet, but also to provide a service that is high in demand in the market.
MMK Trading House LLC continues to improve the efficiency of warehousing and logistics by developing customer-focused warehousing services, including transshipment and product delivery. At the moment, the Trading House is considering options for the introduction of a modern system for the integrated planning of metal product procurement needs and supply chain management and is introducing a warehouse management system (WMS). Such an automated warehouse system will:
- Maintain real-time inventory records and analysis
- Implement a system of address storage
- Control and monitor incoming and shipped rolled metal products
- Plan the supply and movement of vehicles in the warehouses
- Optimise business processes and document flows, and analyse the workload of warehouse employees
The 14th International Conference "Service Metal Centres of Russia: Equipment, Technologies, Market" took place on September 14-15 in Yekaterinburg. There were approximately 150 attendees: heads of metal service centres, steel product manufacturers, suppliers of raw materials for rolled products processing, developers of equipment for SMCs, metal trading companies, industry unions, research institutes and engineering design bureaus.