The Belarusian Institute of Strategic Research surveys the opinions of citizens in rural areas regarding the quality of Belarusian goods and services. In the Year of Quality announced by the Head of State, this issue will be given close attention.
The research conducted by BISR among citizens residing in rural areas show that most of them (88% of respondents) rate the quality of Belarusian goods as generally high and only 1.3% as low.
The respondents were to answer the question: “What first comes to your mind when you hear the phrase “Belarusian brand”?” At the same time, no answer options were offered (the so-called open question). Here is what the respondents replied. It turned out that the main association of rural residents linked with the Belarusian brand is the quality of goods. Among the popular answers are "This is the best", "Something fashionable", "Pride for Belarus", "Everything good", "What I use", "What I want to wear", "Belarusian is Belarusian, that's fine to me", "It means our, domestic, native", "Purity, very tasty products". There were also figurative representations - "something linen", "potato", "potato pancakes", "Belovezhskaya Pushcha".
Among the "national" brands of manufacturers, which were mentioned by respondents more often than others, are "Svitanok", "Kupalinka", Mark Formelle, BelAZ, MAZ and tractor "Belarus", watches "Luch", "Horizon", "Savushkin product", "Snov", "Krasny Pishchevik".
But not all respondents are satisfied with the quality of service. Among the wishes are to increase the range of industrial and food products offered (especially those included in the set of shops on wheels), to study seasonal customer requests (for example, to expand the sale of seeds and cuttings in the spring), to stop the sale of expired goods. Taking into account the wishes expressed at local points will contribute not only to improving the quality of trade in rural areas, but also the overall quality of life of citizens.
The telephone survey "Social well-being and current needs of rural residents of the Republic of Belarus" was conducted by the Institute of Sociology of the National Academy of Sciences of Belarus on demand of the Belarusian Institute of Strategic Research in October 2023. The sampling was 700 respondents, represented by gender, age and place of residence.