Russian consumer electronics and white goods retailer M.Video saw online sales surged earlier this month as a renewed weakening in the ruble prompted some consumers to splash out on durable goods, Reuters reported last week.
M.Video said sales on its website jumped by 156 percent in the week of Aug. 24 compared with the same week last year, adding that Apple’s iPad Air and Samsung’s Galaxy Tab were the most popular items. “We see interest in … big appliances and TVs against the backdrop of the ruble weakening,” the news agency quoted a spokesman for the company as saying.
A similar shopping spree took place this past December, as the Russian currency’s dramatic fall triggered panic among consumers. Many online retailers thus saw their sales reach record levels.
However, the Russian online retail market is slowing down in the current unstable economic context. In January Vasko.ru, a major retailer of household appliances whose sales revenues neared $90 million in 2013, was on the verge of bankruptcy. In March Enter.ru, a multichannel retailer with a diversified assortment, was sued by its suppliers for non-payment of a 462 million ruble (nearly $8 million) debt. The crisis also triggered the fall of Sotmarket.ru and Utinet.ru, two important players in the consumer electronics segment, which merged recently. The latest victims of the crisis have been online auction and marketplace Molotok.ru and kids goods online store Mamagazin.ru.
Meanwhile, several leading market players still claim strong growth rates, as announced by Groupon Russia, KupiVip, Lamoda, Ozon and Ulmart at the eDays conference this past June.
In 2014, the domestic segment grew by 35% in nominal terms, or some 15% in real terms, to 560 billion rubles ($14.5 billon at the average exchange rate) for physical goods only, according to a recent report by East-West Digital News and Data Insight. A much more modest growth is expected this year.
