Ecommerce in Russia

Russia stretches over Eastern Europe and Northern Asia. It is among the fastest growing ecommerce markets in the world. Nearly half of Russian ecommerce sales are cross-border, mainly in Europe and Asia.

COUNTRY STATISTICS
RUSSIA
Population 143.4 million (2021)
Internet users (% of population) 85% (2020)
Online sales 65 billion euros (2021)
Online stores worth mentioning: Wildberries, Ozon, Mvideo, Yandex

Content:

Ecommerce customers in Russia

Over 143 million people live in Russia, which makes it the 9th most populous country in the world. In 2020, 85 percent of Russians had access to the internet. This number has been growing steadily since 2015. Moreover, 46 percent of Russian people shopped online in 2020 according to RetailX.

The ecommerce market in Russia has been growing fast since 2020

Top product categories in Russia by revenue share (2021):

  1. Electronics and media (30%)
  2. Fashion (24%)
  3. Toys, hobby and DIY (19%)
  4. Furniture and appliances (14%)
  5. Food and personal care (13%)

Looking for ecommerce software to start selling in Europe? Webador and Shopify are platforms that are well optimized for cross-border ecommerce.

Delivery and payment in Russia

Russian online shoppers mostly use a credit card or debit card: in 2020, over 90 percent of consumers payed by card online. Cash upon receipt is also very popular, because Russian shoppers are generally distrusting of the safety of online transaction. As much as 77 percent of customers pay in cash for internet orders according to Data Insight. Paying by card upon receipt is also very common (66 percent).

The most popular e-wallets are Yandex and QIWI.

Furthermore, e-wallets are a common payment method. The most popular digital wallets in Russia are Yandex and QIWI. In 2020, over 50 percent of internet users in large cities payed online with Yandex, for example.

In Russia online orders are mostly payed by credit card, debit card and payment upon receipt
Source: E-commerce in Russia 2020 by Data Insight

When looking at delivery, pick-up points and parcel lockers are the most popular channel. Nearly 70 percent of all parcels in 2020 went to pick-up points and lockers according to Data Insight. Online retailer Wildberries is an important market leader in Russia. The company ships a whopping 90 percent of its orders to pick-up points.

Wildberries is a market leader in Russia.

Additionally, courier delivery is used for 38 percent of Russian internet orders. Shipping by courier is even more popular in large cities, such as Moscow and St. Petersburg.

The ecommerce market in Russia

The Russian ecommerce market is still young, but has been growing rapidly since 2020. Moreover, online retail in Russia has been growing faster than the overall economy in recent years. The industry was worth 65 billion euros in 2021. Up to 2025, the market revenue is expected to have a compound annual growth rate of 18.73 percent according to Statista.

Do you want to sell cross-border in Europe? It ain't easy but with the right ecommerce software, online marketing channels and European fulfillment companies market leadership is surely possible.

Leading online stores in Russia

The biggest retailers in Russia in order of 2021 revenue are:

  1. Wildberries
  2. Mvideo
  3. DNS shop
  4. Citilink
  5. Ozon

Wildberries is the biggest online retailer in Russia

In order of revenue, retailer Wildberries is the market leader in Russia generating 6,700 million dollars in 2021. The company sells a wide range of products, from clothing to household products and electronics. The second largest seller is Mvideo, which is the biggest Russian electronics seller.

Popular retailers are DNS, Aliexpress and Yandex.

Online marketplace Ozon is also a top player, which can be described a Russian equivalent of Amazon. Other important retailers are electronics seller DNS Shop, Aliexpress Russia and online marketplace Yandex.

Read all our articles about ecommerce in Russia.

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