Over the past year, Russian online retail has seen a decline in the popularity of cross-border sites in favor of domestic ones. This is evidenced by the results of the study “Consumer Index of Ivanov” from Sberbank CIB on July 13.
This means the Russian population is choosing sites such as Ozon and Wildberries, over foreign e-tailers like AliExpress – although AliExpress is still holding a strong market position.
Among those who shopped online over the past six months, in June 2020 the share of those who named AliExpress dropped to 50% from 59% in March last year and 62% in March 2018. Joom Marketplace, also offering Chinese products, in June 2020 named only 10% compared to 16% in March 2019.
Alexander Ivanov, the President of the National Distance Trade Association has said that:
During the (Corona) crisis, when it was necessary to get goods here and now, for non-urgent purchases, including from abroad, people were reluctant to spend. Therefore, preference was given to domestic online retailers. When the opportunity to plan 45 days ahead comes back, the cross-border can regain its place in expenses, because abroad everything is cheaper, whatever one may say.
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The survey, which was conducted by the Cint research company for Sberbank CIB, involved 2,300 Russians aged 18–65 from 164 cities with a population of more than 100,000. Both online questionnaires and personal and telephone interviews were used. Respondents could give several answers. The index, according to Sberbank, reflects the current expectations and preferences of middle-income Russians.
