OREANDA-NEWS. February 17, 2010. CITILINK Computer Discounter opened in January 2009, the official retail project of MERLION Distribution Company, now is in the top ten of “the Year’s Best Retailers”, according to the opinion of readers of one of the leading online computing resources, reported the press-centre of MERLION.

Primarily CITILINK Project supposed only two ways of servicing: the store with servicing terminals (Amurskaya 7) and the online store (www.citilink.ru), however during the 2009 year one more popular servicing solution was found – CITILINK mini trade points for placing orders and picking up goods.

Currently CITILINK mini points are available in all Federal Districts of the capital. Locations were selected by the store’s Marketing Specialists who relied on customers’ requests left on CITILINK website concerning opening of trade points. Now, citizens of thirteen bedroom districts of Moscow are provided with nearby points for placing orders and picking up any computer and household appliances.

Addresses of CITILINK mini points and the list of goods are specified in sections of the store’s website: mini points and goods.

Currently the number of customers of CITILINK Computer Discounter makes up more than 1000 per day; 60-65 % of them collect their goods by picking them up themselves, 25-30 % use the store’s delivery service and 10 % use CITILINK mini points for collection of their goods. Also, according to the results of the carried out research, the data on the structure of customers were obtained – 80 % of customers are men in the age of 25-34 years who are advanced customers having exact knowledge of what they need to purchase. Though the store has the status of a discounter, customers of the “above average” income level prevail.

CITILINK has developed exclusive projects for all customers; the projects are focused on maximum benefits and convenience in work with the store: CITILINK Club, Auction, Configuration Manager and Expert Club. All presented projects have their own systems of bonuses, benefits and privileges.

Besides the convenience of goods collection and exclusive projects during the first year of work the store offered a lot of marketing campaigns, promotion actions and various joint-vendor events. Only in one year more than 60 campaigns were held organized jointly with such vendors as: Acer, ASUS, APC, AMD, Benq, Canon, Corsair, DELL, ECS Elitegroup, HP, Intel, Kingston, Lenovo, LG, Microsoft, MSI, Panasonic, Philips, Samsung, Seagate, Siemens, Sony, Western Digatal. Besides, the following activities were held on the territory of the store: prize drawings, presentations of new products of some of the above stated vendors and award ceremonies for winners of competitions for the best graphic work and best configuration. Winners of prize drawings and competitions were granted gifts from sponsors of these activities.

In the end of 2009 the discounter put a new group of goods in it’s production list – house appliances. According to the opinion of CITILINK’s Marketing Specialists, new product offer will become one more convenience for customers allowing, as they speak, to purchase additional equipment also for home and for the family (irons, vacuum-cleaners, kettles, microwave ovens etc.) “without walking away from the cash register”. Appearance of new product offer during New Year’s Eve gave the store an opportunity to obtain additional loyalty of the customers who purchased house appliances as gifts for the holiday. The discounter’s arsenal was supplemented with house appliances of such vendors as: Bosh, Braun, Electrolux, LG, Philips, Rowenta, Samsung, Tefal. Various marketing campaigns and activities with new vendors are planned to be held in the future.

For the first year of work CITILINK Computer Discounter gained popularity among computer users and occupied it’s niche at the computer retail market of Moscow. For 2010 the Company plans to open new CITILINK mini trade points (26 points as per plan) and to expand to regions (open stores with servicing terminals in Russian multi-million cities).