The company began selling in grocery stores

In November, OJSC Mobile Telesystems (MTS) began selling its contracts through promoters in Pyaterochka grocery stores. Before this, only Tele2 and OJSC VimpelCom actively used alternative sales channels. In turn, MTS felt confident due to cooperation with Euroset, which provided it with the lion's share of sales. However, as a result of the financial crisis, Euroset was sold to a competitor of the operator. As the MTS press service explained, sales of the company's contracts in the Pyaterochka grocery store chain began in November. The company's stands are installed in 25 discounter stores. Prior to this, sales were carried out through Pyaterochka to Tele2, which was the first to begin developing alternative retail, as well as to VimpelCom (BeeLine brand).
Industry analysts associate the MTS initiative with the financial crisis, before which the market for sales of cellular contracts was strictly structured and stable. Operators entered into special long-term agreements with large retailers, under which they received guarantees for a certain share of sales of their contracts. Dealers fulfilled these obligations through developed marketing tools, offering their sellers large rewards for selling contracts of a particular operator. For example, MTS had similar agreements with Euroset, and OJSC VimpelCom had similar agreements with the Svyaznoy network.
The rules of the game that existed before the crisis suited everyone. Dealers profitably sold their loyalty, and managers of cellular companies could feel serene for a whole year, confident that competitors would not overtake them in terms of connections. However, the financial crisis completely destroyed the existing balance in the connection market. In the context of sharply increased prices for funds, retailers, which have a turnover that is incomparably low compared to their profit, are facing serious problems. As a result, almost all major chains were put up for sale. “A real revolution is taking place in cellular retail. Dealer networks are essentially no longer needed by anyone except operators interested in maintaining sales channels. This means that there is no longer an independent cellular retail,” says Yuri Bryukvin, CEO of the analytical agency Rustelecom.
Indeed, 49.9% of the shares of the country's largest cellular retailer Euroset have already been purchased by VimpelCom; MTS and Megafon are also negotiating the purchase of business with a number of dealer networks. Meanwhile, it was Euroset that provided MTS with the lion's share of sales. Back in the summer of this year, managers of the St. Petersburg office of VimpelCom openly said in private conversations that they had no choice but to begin developing alternative sales channels in order to maintain their positions in the number of connections, “after all, key retail was under the control of one participant market". Now, after VimpelCom has become a co-owner of Euroset, the situation has changed radically - and MTS is forced to look for alternative sales channels. “The operator needs to maintain the share of sales that was previously provided to it by a large retailer,” says Mr. Bryukvin.
Boris Gorlin

Newspaper "Kommersant St. Petersburg" No. 212 dated November 21, 2008, p. 2

MTS followed in the footsteps of Tele2