Up to 3 trillion rubles: what is the reason for the sharp growth of the domestic online trading market in Russia

From January to August 2022, Russian online stores increased sales of goods by almost one and a half times compared to the same period in 2021, to 2.96 trillion rubles.

Such RT data was presented by specialists from the Association of Internet Trade Companies (AKIT).

According to analysts, over the year, the share of online sales in the total retail turnover in Russia increased from 8.9% to 11.1%.

In total, in the first eight months of 2022, Russians bought goods worth 3.1 trillion rubles on domestic and foreign Internet sites.

At the same time, the indicators of foreign marketplaces have noticeably dipped, experts admit.

“If we separate these two segments, we will see that the cross-border market has gone into a deep negative.

The growth of Russian Internet commerce is ensured precisely by the domestic market - it increased by almost 50%, ”Artyom Sokolov, president of AKIT, told RT.

According to him, in the online retail segment, the demand for jewelry and watches grew the most.

For the year, sales in this category added an average of 238%.

In addition, Russians have become much more likely to order gardening equipment and tools on the Internet (the amount of purchases increased by 200%), as well as materials for creativity, accessories and pet products (by 100%).

“Changes in volumes here are primarily related to the closure of physical retail of a number of brands.

Goods of certain brands turned out to be available only on the Internet, ”Sokolov explained.

At the same time, the main volume of online purchases in Russia fell on the share of digital and household appliances (sales grew to almost 680 billion rubles), furniture and household goods (about 573 billion), as well as clothes and shoes (437 billion).

In addition, consumers actively ordered food products (400 billion rubles) and beauty and health products (231 billion) on the Internet.

Against the backdrop of the decision of many foreign brands to leave the Russian market, domestic online platforms have become the main sales channels for the inventory of the departed business.

For example, Wildberries began selling products from Zara, Massimo Dutti and Pull & Bear, while Ozon and Yandex.Market launched separate sections with goods from IKEA, TASS writes.

“In addition, the market quickly reacted to the departure of foreign payment systems.

Banks and financial aggregators actively implemented Russian payment solutions.

MIR maps became more widespread.

As a result, online purchases with online payment remain as convenient as they were before the departure of Western players, ”RT was told in the press service of the CloudPayments Internet acquiring service.

Also, according to experts, the launch of parallel imports had a positive impact on the online trading market.

We are talking about the import of original foreign products into Russia without the consent of the copyright holders.

The government approved the corresponding initiative back in March to provide the domestic market with demanded goods against the backdrop of the departure of foreign brands and Western trade sanctions against Moscow.

“We see that the number of companies selling online goods imported through parallel imports is growing by an average of 20% per month.

We are talking, for example, about products such as auto parts, household appliances, electronics and gadgets, ”added CloudPayments.

"Without leaving home"

According to the ACIT forecast, by the end of 2022, the online trading market in Russia may grow by 40%.

At the same time, the total sales volume on domestic and foreign Internet sites is able to overcome the bar of 5 trillion rubles, Artyom Sokolov believes.

At the moment, the driver for the development of online shopping is the beginning of the high season of sales, the peak of which will be closer to December due to Black Friday and New Year's promotions.

This was told to RT by the first vice-president of the all-Russian public organization of small and medium-sized businesses "Support of Russia" Pavel Sigal.

“Today, the remote format allows you to make all the necessary purchases without leaving your home.

This method has many advantages, in particular, it helps to avoid huge queues and higher prices that are typical for offline outlets,” the expert emphasized.

In addition, the steady growth of the Russian e-commerce market is associated with an increase in the number and quality of services for the delivery of ordered goods to the end consumer.

This point of view, in a conversation with RT, was expressed by a specialist in the commodity markets of the Finmir marketplace, Valentina Milashevskaya.

“Recently, the number of logistics services and the range of services they provide have been growing at a noticeable pace in Russia.

Thus, online players are actively developing their network in the regions.

For example, positions not related to perishable goods can now be sent between cities, ”the expert noted.

According to her, further digitalization of trade processes and the growth of online sales can have a positive impact on the Russian economy as a whole.

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

“With this development of online trading, all participants benefit.

Buyers can pay for purchases faster, sellers can immediately receive funds to their account, and the state can clearly record the amount of incoming money and expect taxes from them.

Moreover, online sales make it possible to bring the trade segment out of the gray zone, which increases the replenishment of the treasury,” Milashevskaya concluded.