During the coronavirus pandemic, the volume of sales of Russian online stores increased by 19.88%.
The specialists of the RetailCRM service told RT about this.
According to the company's research, from the end of February to October 2020, the strongest growth in the online retail segment was for home appliances and electronics (sales increased by 82%), auto goods (54%), cosmetics (48%), books and stationery ( 37%), as well as goods for animals (34%).
“Now in the field of e-commerce there is a steady growth.
This is partly due to the onset of such an active season for the segment as autumn, when the school year begins, Black Friday sales take place, and people are preparing for the New Year holidays.
On the other hand, this is a reaction to a new, post-like market, to changes in consumption standards - the online shopping process has become even more profitable, more convenient and faster, ”Dmitry Borodin, CEO of RetailCRM, explained to RT.
It is noteworthy that in the first half of 2020, the share of e-commerce in the total retail turnover in Russia approached 11%, although at the end of 2019 the figure barely exceeded 6%.
Artyom Sokolov, president of the Association of Internet Trading Companies (AKIT), told RT about this.
“During the pandemic, the development of e-commerce became one of the main trends in retail, because for a number of product categories, online was the only possible sales channel.
For our country, the achieved level of the share of Internet sales of 10.9% has become historical.
As a result, Russian online retail has come close to such developed markets as the United States and China, ”the expert explained.
The increase in online sales may accelerate as COVID-19 cases rise again in Russia.
Dmitry Spiridonov, CEO of CloudPayments, expressed this point of view in an interview with RT.
The expert admits a partial repetition of the spring scenario in connection with the departure of some Russians to self-isolation.
“It is logical to assume that the emerging trend will only intensify, and in the top online sales we again expect to see food and ready-made food delivery, clothes, cosmetics, flowers, as well as online education - in September we saw a three-fold increase in demand in this category compared to the same period last year, ”said Spiridonov.
According to CloudPayments, during the first wave of the pandemic from March 28 to April 30, online sales of food and essential goods in Russia increased 2.5 times.
In turn, the demand for online education immediately increased by 99%.
© Kirill Kallinikov / RIA Novosti
According to experts, the actions of the Central Bank had a positive impact on the dynamics of Internet sales.
So, from April 15 to September 30, the Central Bank limited the commission for acquiring (payment for goods or services by bank cards) to the level of 1% of the cost of products of online sellers.
As a result, companies' costs for this procedure have been reduced by about 30%, noted Artyom Sokolov.
“Online stores were able to reduce the costs of settlement and cash services, and also freed themselves from additional reporting - previously, cash desks had to be registered in each separate region.
The companies were able to redistribute the saved funds for the development of logistics infrastructure, improvement of the quality of service for buyers and other areas of development of the e-commerce market, ”said the expert.
According to AKIT, in 2020 the Russian e-commerce market will grow to 2.933 trillion rubles, compared to 2.032 trillion in 2019.
At the same time, in the market structure, 79% (2.326 trillion) will fall on domestic trade, and 21% (607 billion) - on cross-border.
According to Dmitry Spiridonov, the coronavirus has significantly accelerated the digital transformation and transition to online of those enterprises that previously focused on offline demand.
However, the growth of the online sales sector may continue after the pandemic, the expert said.
“Do not forget about the organic growth factors of this market segment.
Among them will be the development of mobile and broadband Internet, expansion of the logistics coverage area and optimization of logistics schemes, as well as active marketing to attract users to online, ”concluded Spiridonov.