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Despite the new restrictions, introduced in Internet Commerce in 2014, this market continues to grow and develop actively. According to analysts’ forecasts, the growth dynamics of online trading in Russia is attractive for new players.
According to РБК.research, the market grows by 25-30% per year and keeps huge potential for the development. The increase of the number of users contributes to the growth of Internet Commerce.
According to “POF” (Public Opinion Foundation), Russia takes only the 9th place in the world for Internet connectivity. However, as far back as 2012, Russia was among the five world leaders by the number of Internet users, after China, the USA, Japan and India. It is predicted that by 2014, the adult Internet audience in Russia can reach 80 million people (in autumn 2012, the monthly Internet audience was 61.1 million people).
According to PricewaterhouseCoopers (PwC), over the next few years, the share of internet trading in the total volume of retail sales in Russia will grow four times – from 3 to 12%.
Such a sharp increase in the number of internet users, and as a result, online buyers, makes companies, that do not yet have their own online trading platforms, be more active with their launch.
This year, Walter Kadnar, Director of IKEA in Russia has announced about serious preparatory work for opening an online shop. The retailer is working at the IT- platform and logistics of delivery of goods. The opening of the Internet shop is scheduled for autumn 2016, although the pilot project is already being tested in Omsk since mid-2013. Besides Russia IKEA online shops work in 13 other countries.
“Otiflame” Company has recently started online sales. Having launched an Internet store in domestic markets in Sweden and Norway, in 2013, the company opened online sales in Moscow, and in the near future plans to launch the service in Yekaterinburg and Novosibirsk. By the end of 2014, the retailer is going to open online shops in all cities with population exceeding one million.
Sellers and manufacturers of fashionable clothes are actively launching Internet shops. As far back as last year, Mark&Spenser Company, one of the major British producers of clothes, announced about opening an online shop in Russia. They plan to open it in the first quarter of 2014; now it is in the phase of launching.
It is to be recalled that the beginning of 2014 was marked by a number of events in the field of Internet trading. The government approved lowering of the threshold of duty free importation from abroad to 150 Euros. Anonymous online payments (including via WebMoney and YandexMoney) will be limited to 1000 rubles a day. The list of documents for declaring Internet parcels increased.
Major online sellers consider these legislative innovations beneficial. The new law will help to cope with price competition; there will be less “grey” (illegal) schemes; small online-shops, specializing on sales from foreign online stores, will close. For official Internet stores of famous brands, to work in such a market will be easier.