Moscow is a huge megapolis, the most populous city of Russia with over 12,5 million residents living in the city. According to Mediascope, 10.6 million of Moscow citizens use the Internet, 90.3% use mobile devices for Internet access. E-commerce is well-developed: as the study “Trends in e-commerce development in Moscow” shows, 8,7 million of Moscow citizens make purchases online at least once a year, while one in two buys online monthly.
Contactless payment is a great trend: over the past eight years Russia has become the world leader in the amount of contactless transactions via mobile phones, and Europe’s largest market of digital wallets (BCG, 2018). One can use contactless payment in Moscow Metro or in buses by simply waving the phone near the payment terminal while entering the metro station or the bus. According to the CEO of Visa in Russia, 90% of payment terminals in Russia are able to accept contactless cards or devices, and more than 70% of payments are contactless. Cash is becoming less and less popular.
Moscow citizens that are constantly hurrying are not ready to wait for a courier at home. 87% prefers collecting their orders from pick-up points or post offices, and only 13% prefers courier services (Yandex & GfK, 2019).
When ordering from local online-shops, Russians are demanding, but they are ready to wait longer for their cross-border orders. Cross-border shopping is very popular: according to GfK, 29% of Russian online shoppers bought from abroad over the past year. Delivery from abroad takes nearly as much time as from domestic shops. For instance, delivery time for iHerb (USA) orders starts from 4 days.
Russia is ranked 38-th among 80 countries in level of English among the population. The highest rate, a bit higher than global average, is in Moscow (EF, 2017). That’s why a lot of Moscow citizens are ready to order interesting goods from the websites in English. However, if you are willing to sell in all of Russia, we recommend you to translate your website into Russian as in regions other than Moscow language skills among the population are lower.
Moscow citizens prefer collecting their orders from pick-up points. Therefore it is essential for them to be able to collect all of their orders - both from local and cross-border shops - in one place, close to home and at a convenient time. BXB, for example, has 8 800 of their own and partners’ pick-up points in Russia, but if a client prefers courier delivery - BXB courier services cover 100% of Russia.
Moscow is characterized by a hectic lifestyle. Thus, online shopping fits perfectly into Moscow citizens’ busy schedule. Women order new dresses while in the Metro. Buy beauty supplies in the taxi. Order toys for their children while they’re out with their little ones. Foreign stores are likely to succeed in the Russian market on an equal footing with local ones. Customer’s journey when ordering online in local shops isn’t much different from buying from abroad - until the delivery process. Entrust your delivery to BXB, we know what to do.
An article from Cross-Border Magazine.