At the end of 2021, the share of online sales in the total retail turnover in Russia may exceed the indicators of 2020.

RT was told about this in the Association of Internet Trade Companies (AKIT).

According to experts, Russians' interest in online shopping is steadily growing, and from January to September the share of e-commerce was 8.5%.

“Most likely, the figure will change by the end of the year, given the restrictions imposed by the pandemic and the big sales that retailers traditionally hold in November.

It is possible that these indicators will break the record of last year and overcome the bar of 9.6%, "the president of AKIT Artyom Sokolov suggested in an interview with RT.

According to him, since the beginning of the year, the demand for furniture and household goods has grown the most in the online retail segment.

The volume of sales in this category grew by 200-300% monthly compared to the same values ​​in 2020.

In addition, Russians are more likely to order children's goods and materials for creativity on the Internet.

“Sales of accessories also grew - gloves, belts, hats and bags.

However, taking into account the seasonality of this category, the demand was uneven: in February the increase was 130%, in April - 577%, and in June - only 32%, ”Sokolov added.

A similar trend is recorded by representatives of the Cloudpayments service.

According to the organization, the most active Russians made online purchases in March and October.

According to experts, in the beginning of spring, sales of flowers increased sharply on the eve of International Women's Day, and in mid-autumn, buyers began to book air tickets more often against the backdrop of non-working days and the approaching November holidays.

At the same time, throughout the year, citizens actively made online purchases in the sports and fitness category, as well as in the online education segment.

Dmitry Spiridonov, CEO of CloudPayments, told RT about this.

“Since the beginning of the year, the turnover in the field of online education has grown by 20%, and the average purchase amount has grown by 15%, to 3.4 thousand rubles.

This category shows growth not only throughout 2021, but since the beginning of the pandemic.

The transition to a distance learning format in schools and universities in many regions also spurs the growth of demand in this segment, "- said Spiridonov.

The effect of digitalization

According to AKIT, from January to September the volume of the Russian e-commerce market amounted to 2.41 trillion rubles, and by the end of 2021, the value may exceed 3.55 trillion.

In addition to the effect of the coronavirus pandemic, the growing popularity of cashless payments also plays in favor of the development of the Russian e-commerce market, experts interviewed by RT say.

According to the Central Bank, today the share of non-cash payments in Russia has already reached a record 75%.

For comparison: back in 2013, in almost 87% of cases, Russians paid for their purchases with banknotes.

At the moment, buyers increasingly prefer to pay for goods not only with bank cards, but also using smartphones.

Pavel Sigal, the first vice-president of the all-Russian public organization of small and medium-sized businesses "Support of Russia", told RT about this.

“To a large extent, the increase in the volume and frequency of sales was facilitated by the introduction of the Rapid Payments System (FPS), thanks to which it is possible to pay for purchases using a QR code.

Such transactions are cheaper for business than classical transactions involving a bank card, and the consumer will be able to buy goods, even if he forgot cash or a card, ”the expert emphasized.

In addition, the steady growth of the Russian e-commerce market is associated with an increase in the number of services for the delivery of goods and an improvement in their quality over the past year and a half.

This point of view in an interview with RT was expressed by Nikolai Pereslavsky, an employee of the Department of Economic and Financial Research of the CMS Institute.

According to him, in order to reduce costs, many companies began to develop the online segment and gradually abandon offline points.

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“I do not exclude that in the future some of the sellers will almost completely go online and leave only a couple of flagship stores.

For customers, purchases in marketplaces often allow them to get an increased cashback, as well as a wide range of goods due to the presence of a large number of sellers in the segment, ”added the specialist.

Against this background, the further development of online trading may lead to an increase in the number of self-employed in Russia, does not exclude the director of business development at Rocket Work, Sergei Sukhostavets.

Note that, according to the latest estimates of the Federal Tax Service (FTS), since the beginning of 2021, the number of Russians registered as self-employed has already exceeded 3.3 million.

“Large marketplaces are actively creating tools for simplified entry to the platform for entrepreneurs with various forms of tax reporting.

Thanks to this, the self-employed get a good platform for selling their own products with traffic motivated to buy without unnecessary investments in advertising, website production and commissions for third-party payment instruments, "Sergei Sukhostavets said in an interview with RT.

Experts believe that further digitalization of trade processes and the growth of online sales may have a positive effect on the Russian economy as a whole.

According to analysts, first of all, the filling of the country's budget can improve.

“In general, an increase in trade turnover means increased budget revenues from income tax, VAT, excise taxes and other fiscal payments.

In 2022, subject to the continuation of the pandemic and targeted restrictive measures, the share of online commerce may additionally grow and reach the level of 10.5-12%, ”concluded Pavel Sigal.