Trade sanctions negatively affect e-commerce

The Russians began to save on online purchases, analysts at Ve Interactive found out. The number of orders in August, when the exchange of trade sanctions of the Russian Federation and the West began, decreased by 3,2% by July. The average check of purchases has been growing since May, but this is primarily due to the increase in the exchange rate: the bulk of orders are for foreign online stores.

In August, the growth of the Russian e-commerce market slowed down compared to

June-July indicators, according to a study by Ve Interactive - the number of orders was 3,2% lower than in July. Ve Interactive analyzed the work of 37 Russian online stores selling clothes and shoes, electronics and household appliances, furniture and household goods, souvenirs, goods for children, toys and food. Their total audience (8 million unique visitors) was 5% higher than in June-July: people visited online stores more often, but bought less often. However, compared to May, the number of online orders increased by 42,5%, according to the study.

Ve Interactive spokesman Alexander Koksharov, among the possible reasons for the slowdown, points out "general economic news predicting negative dynamics." "It is too early to say that the sanctions introduced in August are associated with a decrease in the indicators of the Internet market," he added. Data Insight believes that monthly estimates of the e-commerce market are incorrect due to seasonality. Buyers' activity has been declining since the beginning of the year, but in August, in fact, there was no recession in the market, says Boris Ovchinnikov, partner of Data Insight.

According to Ve Interactive, the average check in online stores in the Russian Federation from May to August increased by 17%, to 6,54 thousand rubles. This is due to the popularity of household goods and electronics, according to Ve Interactive. Data Insight explains this by the weakening of the ruble - a significant part of sales is accounted for by imports. In the fall, the growth of online commerce will continue, retailers will increase revenue through New Year's purchases, Alexander Koksharov hopes. “In the past two years, the market has grown by 30 percent annually, but this year the profit growth will not be as high,” he adds. The Association of Internet Trade Companies expects that by the end of the year the market will grow by 22%, to RUB 700 billion. In 2013, this growth was 30%, up to 510 billion rubles.