Russian Post has signed a long-term cooperation agreement with AKIT, the national association of e-commerce companies, to develop e-commerce in the country as 51% of Russian online shoppers entrusted the postal operator with the delivery of their online orders in 2015, a 12% increase on 2014.
The 12% rise in customer numbers needs to be seen in the context of a 17% overall decline in the number of purchases made at Russian internet shops last year compared to 2014. In monetary terms, the total e-commerce market value increased by 7% generating sales worth RUB 760 billion (€9.7 billion).
In 2015, Russian Post delivered 128 million shipments with commodity enclosures from foreign online shops, which is 1.8 times more than in 2014 and 4.5 times more than in 2013.
Last year, Russian Post introduced new services for the ‘last mile’ to minimise the time of receiving parcels for customers and make the process as convenient as possible. Therefore, it created 200 special centres for pick-up and collection of parcels in 48 cities and opened over 2,000 post offices with dedicated ‘parcel’ counters in 250 cities.
The postal operator also launched two new services for local players on the e-commerce market last year – ‘Parcel Online’ and ‘Courier Online’, offering product delivery at fixed prices and with guaranteed delivery times. Just a few months after the launch, leading Russian internet shops signed up for the service and have now shipped over 1.5 million ‘Parcels Online’.
In addition, Russian Post has launched a home delivery service for small parcels and opened courier delivery areas for punctual deliveries of express shipments in seven cities.
"Until 2013, Russian Post was rapidly losing its market share on the parcel delivery market. In 2014, we managed to reverse this trend and generate significant growth in 2015, even in the context of the reduced number in overall online orders within Russia. We achieved this by reducing delivery times, developing the infrastructure (opening parcel pick-up and collection centres, dedicated ‘parcel’ counters and introducing new services both for end-consumers and online stores). In 2016, we will continue on this path, expand the geography of our new products and continue to develop the infrastructure,” Sergey Malyshev, Deputy General Director Russian Post, Parcels and Express, said.
According to AKIT’s analysis of the Russian e-commerce market, online trade accounted for 4% of the total retail trade in the country in 2015. AKIT President Aleksey Fjodorov commented: “We have room to grow and the prospects are huge.” He said that the most popular product categories in online shopping remain clothes, foot wear, car spare parts, cosmetics, sports articles and household appliances.
According to the AKIT survey, 57% of Russians aged 12-64 use the internet while women are more active online than men.
Fjodorov highlighted the volume increase of cross-border e-commerce to RUB 219.2 billion (€2.8 billion) in 2015 while the number of parcels delivered from foreign online stores almost doubled to 135 million, compared to 77 million parcels in 2014. This led to structural changes on the Russian e-commerce market, he stressed.
“The situation is due to the gaps in the Russian legislation, according to which foreign online stores, that are not required to comply with the laws of the Russian Federation, have significant competitive advantages over domestic online retailers.”
Commenting on the development of the Russian e-commerce market and its legal regulation, Lyudmila Bokova, member of the Federation Council, the upper house of the parliament, said. “We need a systemic solution to the problems of the Russian online retail market, based on the existing realities in the industry.”
As part of the new cooperation agreement, Russian Post and AKIT aim to increase the quality and effectiveness of e-commerce and boost exports of Russian consumer goods via internet.
