Construction enterprises’ marketing activities in the economic turbulence period

Abstract

Construction is rightfully considered one of the most important sectors in any economic system. It takes an active part in building up the fixed assets, creating a diverse technological and social infrastructure, as well as providing the population with housing. At the same time, the specific features inherent in construction and the product it produces, such as, for example, territorial consolidation and a long service life, as well as excess of demand over the supply on the Russian housing market, allowed the construction companies to long consider marketing as an unnecessary, optional element of the market activities. However, the rapid growth observed in the field of housing construction over the past 20 years, increased the competition and increased the demands from the consumers, led to the fact that many construction companies were forced to reconsider their old attitude to marketing. Today, almost every organization in the housing market uses, to one degree or another, marketing tools, more often tactical, less often strategic. However, the ongoing changes in the Russian construction market, due primarily to economic stagnation and a decrease in the population solvency, actualize a greater active introduction of marketing tools in the construction companies’ practice, including against the backdrop of the economic activity increasing digitalization. A review of the problems and prospects in this area is one of the objectives of this article.