Russia’s first public index of the prices of goods sold online was launched in late September by Yandex.Market, a leading Russian online marketplace, the Higher School of Economics (HSE), a major Russian university, and information agency Finmarket.
The Internet Inflation index analyzes data from Yandex.Market based on a methodology developed by HSE. The project currently monitors price dynamics in the 10 categories that are most popular with online shoppers to calculate a composite index. The index of each category is calculated based on the average prices of goods in the category and demand indicators for the previous months.
The index allows users to check the weekly average price for goods in general or in certain categories. The model also measures the number of hits per week and the total value of demand for a product.
The project claims, “we do not call [the index] a full-fledged consumer price index on the Internet, but it reflects the price movements of the most popular categories of goods, i.e. it is a selective index of prices on the Internet.”
Over time more categories of goods will be added to make the composite index more representative and comprehensive.
“[This index] is focused only on e-commerce. Therefore, we can provide complete and accurate information for this market and do so very quickly,” commented Yandex.
According to this statistical model, the prices of goods sold on online stores in Russia declined 1.5% between the first week of January and the first week of September 2013. Furthermore, the year’s highest prices were observed in mid-June and lowest prices in early February.
Source: RIA Novosti, TheRunet
- RUSSIAN E-COMMERCE REPORT – The total volume of Russian online retail reached approximately $13 billion in 2012, up 27% from the previous year, not including cross border sales. In partnership leading universities and consultancies, EWDN has published an in-depth research on this industry. To receive free insights or to order the full version (2013 edition), please contact us at [email protected].
