Analysis of Russian eCommerce: growth despite the crisis

Russians, with a sinking heart, are watching the growth rate, businessmen are cutting their bones, and the retail e-commerce market continues to grow despite everything. Read more about the “driving forces” of Russian online retail, as well as the prospects for the development of e-commerce in the Russian regions, in the review of the Runet study conducted by European experts.

Experts say that the online retail market in Russia continues to grow at rates exceeding the world average twice, despite the decline of the country's economy and the decline in the solvency of the population. Sustainable growth in difficult economic conditions reflects the untapped market potential.

Russia is one of the largest B2C e-commerce markets. In 2014, it ranked ninth in the world, fourth in Europe and second among the BRIC countries in terms of sales in online retail (according to yStats.com). In the coming years, experts predict double the growth rate of the eCommerce market and maintaining a high place in the world ranking.

Despite the fact that the Russian Internet audience is the largest in Europe, the Internet penetration rate in 2015 is only one third of the total adult population of the country (according to yStats.com). As for online shopping, there are even more opportunities for development, since only a quarter of the Russian Internet audience made online purchases in 2015. Internet penetration is highest in the center and north-west of Russia. In the regions, this figure is noticeably lower, although the Far East and the Urals are already approaching the central regions in terms of the share of online buyers.
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Another indicator reflecting the growth prospects of Russian e-commerce is the high potential for the migration of buyers from offline to online. In 2014, online sales accounted for less than 10% in the total volume of Russian retail trade, which means that the transition of buyers to the Internet will “increase” the market regardless of the state of the economy in the country. The growth trend is supported by the largest online retailers in Russia: Ozon and Yulmart universal online stores, KupiVIP.ru and Lamoda clothing stores, M.Video, Eldorado and Svyaznoy electrical goods stores.

Despite the sharp fall in the ruble exchange rate, a significant share of the online retail market in Russia continues to be occupied by cross-border purchases that Russians make on the Russian-language versions of AliExpress and JD.com online stores.