Development and Implementation of the Defrosting Process in the Category of Chilled Confectionery Products in the Format of Supermarkets of the Lenta Retail Chain

With declining profitability and market volatility, Lenta supermarkets are seeking to improve their business efficiency by optimizing operational, logistical and commercial processes. As such, reducing losses and improving key performance indicators are becoming important objectives for the company. One area for optimizing write-offs is the chilled confectionery category, where this indicator exceeds the internal normative value. The purpose of this paper is to develop and implement a pilot project to integrate defrosting technology into the chilled confectionery category in supermarkets of the Lenta retail chain, and to analyze the impact of this technology on the key indicators of the category in order to make a decision on its scaling. Theoretical significance of the work lies in the study of indicators of category management efficiency and description of the logic of calculation of total income (total income) of the category of goods, as well as in the analysis of factors affecting the indicator “write-off” and determining the final level of product losses. The practical significance of the master's thesis lies in the possibility of scaling the project in GC “Lenta” and the use of this experience by other participants in the retail market. The research allowed us to develop practical recommendations based on the results of the pilot project, as well as to calculate the business model to make a decision on scaling the project to all supermarket stores of the Lenta retail chain in the Central Federal District.