Level assessment of consumer market development of the economy of the Northwestern federal district

The importance of the consumer market for the economy of the Russian regions lies in the fact that in many respects the dynamics of their development as a whole depends on its stability. The purpose of the research is to conduct an economic diagnosis of the consumer market state of the entities of the Northwestern Federal District in order to identify existing problems of functioning and determine the directions of their solution. The information base is the works of Russian and foreign scientists, as well as Rosstat statistical data. The scientific novelty is in applying an integrated approach to assessing the sphere of consumer circulation of goods and services at the regional level and improving the system of indicators characterizing the state of the consumer market infrastructure by adding indicators reflecting the number of public catering organizations and the number of retail fairs held in the regions. The article considers the existing methods of assessing consumer market state; among them the author has selected the one that is most complex in the analysis of the main indicators that characterize the state of the market of goods and services. Based on this methodology, the work carries out assessment of the development level of consumer market and its infrastructure through the calculation of the total deviation from the point estimates of the average values of indicators for the federal district. The paper analyses the main indicators characterizing consumer market. According to the results of the analysis, the author has identified the problems that hinder the development of the entities which consist primarily in the lack of investment sources, a low level of socioeconomic development and insufficient infrastructure support for some regions. The article has formulated the main directions that can give an impetus to further development of the consumer market. The study materials can be used by regional authorities, as well as be of practical interest to researchers dealing with this problem.