An important condition for a sustainable and balanced development of the Russian economy is to increase the environmental performance of commercial companies, including trade ones. The purpose of the study is to assess the environmental performance of retail trade companies operating in the Russian Federation. The index, calculated based on the data included in their annual reports, taking into account thirteen parameters characterizing various environmental aspects of trading activity, is used to assess the environmental performance of retail trade companies. The results obtained have made it possible to draw the following conclusions: first, in recent years, the environmental performance of Russian retail trade companies has shown the upward trend; secondly, the environmental performance of foreign retail trade companies operating in the Russian Federation is higher than the environmental performance of Russian companies. Despite the positive dynamics, the problem of increasing the environmental performance of retail trade companies remains of significant importance both for individual economic entities and for the entire state. A further increase in the environmental performance of retail trade companies will improve their competitiveness and the resulting social and economic performance, and will also contribute to the formation of a balanced, environmentally oriented model for the development of the Russian economy.

In public nutrition nowadays, the trend of healthy nutrition is gaining momentum. One of the products that can be attributed to this category is cheese. In modern conditions, the consumption of cheese by the population of the country is characterized by high regional differentiation. An analysis of the cheese market and the main factors of its development in the context of the trend of healthy nutrition served as the purpose of this study. The information base of research is the consumption of cheese by the population of the Russian Federation (a case study of the 16 largest regions of the country). Particular attention is paid to the analysis of the cream cheese market, which currently has a low share in the sales structure of this group of goods, but has a high potential for consumption growth. As a result of the analysis, it has been revealed that the greatest influence on the consumption of cream cheese is exerted by such factors as the number of sales outlets per capita in the region, the number of assortment positions in the store, and the level of trade integration.

The use of e-commerce technologies in trade has been developing for several decades. Nevertheless, often the share of online purchases in the total retail trade turnover in some regions remains insignificant. The COVID-19 pandemic has been a strong driver for increasing the digital development of the population, including in the use of e-commerce. The article analyzes the direct impact of the COVID-19 pandemic on the development of e-commerce, using the example of the regions of the Russian Federation, and compares the corresponding growth rates. It is concluded that e-commerce has the greatest potential for its development in the case of initially low development in the region, due to the involvement of new users, rather than in more developed regions.

Trade is characterised by a high level of competition. Because of that, trade companies need to search for various areas to improve their commercial activities. In this connection, such parameters as integration of different forms of trade, increasing the role of intangible assets (in particular, own trademarks, social responsibility) play a major role. The use of digital technologies, especially mobile commerce, also plays a major role in modern trade.