How to make an analysis of the e-commerce product market. RBC e-commerce market research: why is this sector growing? Increasing online food orders in major cities

The owners of online stores are familiar with the concept of "electronic commerce" firsthand, they certainly know the answer to the question "e-commerce - what is it". But if you understand the essence, then many nuances emerge and this term takes on a broader meaning.

E-commerce: what is it?

The general concept is as follows: e-commerce is understood as a certain approach to doing business, which involves the inclusion of a number of operations that use digital data transmission in the provision of goods or the provision of services/works, including through the Internet.

Thus, it is any commercial transaction that is carried out using an electronic means of communication.

The scheme of work is arranged as follows:

• anyone can be a blogger or any other owner of his own Internet page) registers in this system;
• gets its own link;
• places a special code on its web page - an advertisement of the selected official partner of the e-Commerce Partners Network appears;
• monitors website conversion;
• earns a certain percentage for each purchase of a visitor to his site who clicked on an affiliate link.

WP eCommerce

A large number of people are now passionate about e-commerce, primarily because of the desire to create their own website, a unique online store to sell their own products. To meet this growing demand, developers have focused on creating e-commerce templates (e-commerce templates). What is it we will consider further.

One such example of templates is WordPress e-commerce. It is a shopping cart plugin for WordPress (one of the most famous web resource management systems, intended primarily for creating and organizing blogs). It is provided completely free of charge and allows site visitors to make purchases on the Internet page.

In other words, this plugin allows you to create an online store (based on WordPress). This e-commerce plugin has all the necessary tools, settings and options to meet today's needs.

The global e-commerce market is growing rapidly. Due to which countries does this happen and what features are there in each of the markets? Remarkety specialists analyzed the markets of various countries of the world, both developed and developing, in order to identify the peculiarities of doing online business in each of them. Thus, in particular, the volumes of e-commerce markets of various countries, the frequency of using mobile devices when making purchases, popular payment methods, the time at which residents of certain countries prefer to make purchases, the effectiveness of email distribution as part of a marketing strategy in different countries were evaluated. and other features.

No. 1 - China

The volume of the e-commerce market is $562.66 billion. 33% of purchases are made from mobile devices (tablets and smartphones), 67% - from desktop computers. The average age of an online shopper is 25 years old. Shopping is the fastest growing online activity in China.
China is the largest e-commerce market in the world, not least because of its population. There are more than 600 million Internet users in the country. Shopping is the fastest growing online activity in China. At the same time, email marketing has been a big success in the Chinese e-commerce market. In a survey, 75% of consumers said they were ready to make a purchase after receiving a special offer in the mail.

No. 2 - USA

The volume of the e-commerce market is $349.06 billion. 13% of purchases are made from tablets, 15% - from smartphones, 72% - from desktop computers. Thus, Americans buy more through computers, less through mobile devices. 72% of SMEs do not trade online. Despite the fact that there are about 191.1 million online shoppers in the US, only 28% of small businesses sell their products online. In general, more than half (57.4%) of American stores work online. For most American shoppers, being able to check the availability of a product in a warehouse or in an offline store located near the house is of key importance.

No. 3 - Great Britain

The volume of the e-commerce market is $93.89 billion. 12.1% of purchases are made from tablets, 16.5% - from smartphones, 71.4% - from desktop computers. 33% of online sales are made after 6pm. Online trading accounts for 30% of the country's economy. The UK is ranked third in the ranking of e-commerce markets. Online sales in this country account for more than 13% of total retail sales. Most Britons use PayPal, debit and credit cards to pay for goods online. 70% of UK consumers own a smartphone, but only 16.5% use it for shopping. An interesting fact is that a third of online sales are made after 6 pm. Perhaps this is due to the fact that locals often leave online orders in pubs.

No. 4 - Japan

The volume of the e-commerce market is $79.33 billion. 6% of purchases are made from tablets, 46% - from smartphones, 48% - from desktop computers. 97% of internet users shop online. The favorite online activity among Japanese people is e-mail reading. Almost the entire Japanese Internet audience, which makes up 80% of the total population, makes purchases in online stores. It is the second most popular online activity after reading email. Recent studies show that today Japanese consumers are spending more time at home than ever before, which means spending less time shopping in traditional stores. This opens up great opportunities for online retailers. However, it is worth considering that the Japanese approach the choice of a trading platform with all responsibility, giving preference only to reliable sellers with a good reputation offering quality products. Reviews of various products are very successful.

No. 5 - Germany

The volume of the e-commerce market is $74.46 billion. 11.5% of purchases are made from tablets, 16.2% - from smartphones, 72.3% - from desktop computers. Most often, Germans open e-mail in the morning. Half of online sales come from Amazon and Otto. 85% of the German population are Internet users. Among online retailers, Amazon and Otto, the German marketplace, are the most popular among Germans. It is not easy for small and medium businesses to compete with such giants, but there is a way out. Fashion is the most popular trend in online retail in Germany. Thus, if you have a small fashion store, you could be quite successful in the German market. When promoting an online store, it should be taken into account that despite the high degree of Internet penetration, German residents are not very active in social networks. So, for example, only 17% of users check their Facebook in the morning. Germans pay much more attention to e-mail.

Of great importance to German consumers is the ability to return goods. Germany shows a very high return rate - up to 50% of all orders are sent back to the store. Therefore, in order for customers to be satisfied, it is important for online stores operating in Germany to think over the system of returns and organize free shipping.

No. 6 - France

The volume of the e-commerce market is $42.62 billion. 8.1% of purchases are made from tablets, 11.1% - from smartphones, 80.8% - from desktop computers. Only 68% of French people use the Internet. 19% of purchases are made on foreign sites. Only 68% of France's 66.2 million people are Internet users. This is significantly less than in the UK, USA, Germany and China. Also, the French spend less money on online shopping than the residents of these countries. However, in terms of e-commerce market size, France ranks 6th, ahead of South Korea, Canada, Russia and Brazil.

No. 7 - South Korea

The volume of the e-commerce market is $36.76 billion. 1% of purchases are made from tablets, 50% - from smartphones, 49% - from desktop computers. The highest internet speed in the world. Most people shop between 10 and 12 pm. On average, every South Korean has up to 5 credit cards. For comparison, in the US everyone has an average of 2 cards. This explains the high credit debt of Koreans. South Koreans love sales and promotions. And the fastest internet only contributes to online shopping. Unlike the Germans, who like to shop in the morning, and the British, who prefer evening shopping, South Koreans can definitely be classified as "night owls" who sit up in front of the screen until late. South Koreans often buy American goods. In all likelihood, this is due to the fact that local South Korean products are nine times more expensive than foreign counterparts.

No. 8 - Canada

The volume of the e-commerce market is $28.77 billion. 7.5% of purchases are made from tablets, 8.7% - from smartphones, 83.8% - from stationary computers. 45% of purchases occur on foreign sites. About 70% of smartphone users buy through mobile devices. Slightly less than half of Canadian consumers prefer foreign sites. The reason for this is the high prices for local goods, which, with similar quality, cannot compete with cheaper American and even more so Chinese goods. In addition, foreign online retailers offer a wider range of products than Canadian stores. Shipping costs in Canada are 3.6 times higher than in the US.

№9 - Russia

The volume of the e-commerce market is $20.30 billion. 12% of purchases are made from tablets, 8% - from smartphones, 80% - from desktop computers. The most popular payment method is cash on delivery. About 13% of Russians make purchases on the Internet. Basically to save money and time. The most popular product categories are electronics, clothing and footwear. The main challenges faced by e-commerce businesses in Russia are the lack of access to high-speed internet in some regions and poor road infrastructure. Unlike residents of other countries represented in the rating, Russians prefer to pay for purchases in cash upon delivery.

No. 10 - Brazil

The volume of the e-commerce market is $18.80 billion. 4% of purchases are made from tablets, 8% - from smartphones, 88% - from desktop computers. 18% of all online stores sell clothing and accessories. Only 8% of purchases are made through smartphones. In the process of online shopping, Brazilians prefer stores that work in the "fashion" direction. Such sites cover about 18% of the Brazilian retail network.

India

India is not included in the ranking of the largest e-commerce markets, but it is also worth paying attention to. The Indian market is the largest emerging ecommerce market. Despite the fact that the Internet penetration in the country is a little over 10%, the volume of Internet commerce is constantly growing. The most popular among Indians are electronics and fashion. Along with the rise of online shoppers, the number of mobile users is growing in India as well. Nowadays, most purchases are made through a mobile device. The main problem in the Indian e-commerce market is delivery. In most of the country, infrastructure is poorly developed, especially in rural areas.

E-commerce, or electronic commerce, is a special area of ​​the economy in which transactions are carried out through the use of computer networks.

For the most part, in this area of ​​economic relations, online stores, mobile applications of sellers, where you can easily purchase something, have become popular. More and more common ways of interaction within e-commerce are electronic payments - through an application or a bank website (Sberbank Online, for example), or contactless payments by cards or via phone (Apple Pay). In addition, in Russia and around the world, ordering and buying air or railway tickets has become popular.

The breadth of this area is due to the fact that electronic payments reduce to a minimum level or completely eliminate the need for a personal presence in the institution with which the user makes a transaction, and, consequently, the number of such remote transactions is growing. In addition, electronic payments are much faster than cash payments, which today, when time has become a particularly valuable resource, is very important and plays in favor of e-commerce. The development of telecommunication technologies, computers and information systems to them also influenced such a large scale of the use of e-commerce.

As transactions in this way are becoming a deeper part of our lives, it would be logical to assume that using e-commerce for a company is a sure way to significantly increase the number of potential and actual buyers. Investing in the development of this area for each company pays off in a relatively short time.

To date, it is customary to distinguish several types of e-commerce:

1. B2B, business to business, or business to business. In this case, the purchase or sale takes place between two legal entities. When using e-commerce in the execution of these transactions, the time of operations decreases, the operations themselves become transparent, which means that relations between actors are more honest. It is possible to track the status of an order, and for this it is enough just to go to the website of the supplier company and, using the necessary amount of information, track the stage of execution of a particular transaction.
2. B2C, business to consumer, or business consumer. These relationships involve the conclusion of a transaction between an enterprise and an individual. At the same time, there are significant advantages for the consumer: it becomes possible to evaluate the appearance and properties of the product, you can also compare several commodity items with each other, which undoubtedly facilitates the choice. For the seller, the advantage of maintaining such a relationship with the consumer is beneficial due to the reduction in the number of personnel involved in order processing, the cost of maintaining the office is also reduced. In addition, the seller can quickly respond to changing demand, therefore, change the range of products presented, conduct a certain advertising campaign, and improve the goods sold. This scheme is often used by online retailers.
3. C2C, consumer to consumer, or consumer to consumer. This type of relationship arises between individuals, while trading takes place on special Internet sites (for example, avito.ru), which are more like spontaneous markets or newspapers with advertisements for buying and selling. Online auctions are among such platforms. The convenience of this scheme is that the purchase of goods can be made at a lower price than on the website of the store or seller, but the goods themselves can be used (which, of course, has a bad effect on orders for certain categories of goods). In addition, there are risks to conclude a deal with a dishonest buyer or seller, which negatively affects the existence of such trading platforms.

There are also a number of special types of e-commerce:

1. Mcommerce, mobile commerce, or mobile commerce. Literally, the idea of ​​this type of e-commerce is to create what the consumer needs, which is always with him: in a mobile phone. To date, there have been several types of products offered within the framework of these relations: ordering tickets through a mobile application; money transfer; applications with the provision of loyalty cards, various coupons for purchases from individual sellers; various news applications, hobby services: music, photography; mobile banks, through which it is possible to carry out transactions, while it is not necessary to visit a bank branch, which significantly reduces the burden on the latter; other products.
2. Fcommerce, Facebook commerce, or commerce through the social network Facebook. This type of e-commerce focuses on creating services on Facebook. This type is common when advertising a particular product: users of this social network, by rating the product positively on third-party sites, thereby guarantee that this product is good in terms of certain characteristics, therefore, advertising takes place. Moreover, it can be effective, because people trust friends, parents, acquaintances rather than advertisers from the screen.
3. B2G, business to government, business - government. This type of relationship arises in the implementation of trade orders by government organizations.
4. G2G, government to government, or government to government. Similar relationships within e-commerce arise between government agencies.
5. G2C, government to citizens, or state-citizens. In these relations, there is an interaction between state bodies and citizens. For the latter, access to the necessary state information is provided.
6. C2B, consumer to business, consumer to business. This type of e-commerce is used when the buyer himself determines the price at which he can purchase a product or service of an individual company. At the same time, the seller company acts as a broker, which selects a manufacturer who is ready to sell goods at a given price for a price request.
7. B2P, business to partners, or business partners. This type of relationship is common among business partners, in interaction between the company and branches, when creating joint ventures.
8. B2E, business to employee, business to employee. This type of relationship within e-commerce is used when communicating with staff.
9. B2B2C, business to business to consumer, or business to business to consumer. This type of e-commerce is derived from B2B and B2C. The essence of this relationship is that a B2B company pays a B2C company so that the latter offers services or goods first to its customers. In this case, there is a mutually beneficial relationship between companies: a B2B company finds new sales channels for its products, new potential buyers, and for a B2C company, the benefits lie in providing a wider range of products, increasing sales.
10. E2E, exchange to exchange, exchange - exchange. This type of relationship is between sellers and buyers either within the same exchange or between different exchanges.

Chapter 2. E-Commerce Platforms

As the volume of global sales on the Internet grows every year, companies are increasingly wondering how they can enter the global e-commerce market. The answer lies in the choice of a suitable platform that will satisfy the needs of a particular seller.

When choosing a particular platform, companies should approach responsibly, taking into account the load on the future site, including its viewing depth, traffic. It is also worth considering the financial capabilities of the company, the tasks of the enterprise for the development of service in the future.

When comparing platforms, the following indicators are used:

1. functional potential;
2. The ability of the system to adapt;
3. Ability to process large databases;
4. Flexibility in data management;
5. The timing of the introduction of the system into operation;
6. Availability of additional extensions, applications;
7. The cost of software, system introduction;
8. Regularity of updates;
9. The quality of technical support.

The main global e-commerce platforms are presented in the following figure:

Fig.1. The main global e-commerce platforms in the world

It is worth describing each of the platforms:

• 1) WordPress is one of the most popular e-commerce platforms. This system is very convenient due to the high installation speed and available documentation. This platform is used by both store websites and blogs. The former show less interest in this platform due to the simplicity of the functionality. WordPress has a wide range of languages, various plugins and is easy to manage.
• 2) The second most popular platform - Joomla. It is distinguished by a convenient interface, but its drawback lies in the appearance of security problems when installing additional extensions, plug-ins, although without them the system provides a sufficient level of security.
• 3) Drupal among the above platforms, it ranks third in popularity. The advantages of this system are the possibility of a significant expansion of the functionality adapted to specific needs, but it is very difficult to use this platform.
• 4) Magento, used for large projects in the field of e-commerce, is used in only 1% of all websites in the world. The advantages of this system are in the stable release of updates, the availability of different languages ​​of use, the ability to use the free version to familiarize yourself with the platform. In addition, this system can be adapted to a very different range of companies. Among the disadvantages is the mandatory hiring of a qualified programmer by a company that decides to work on this platform, since the use of this system is quite complicated.

The main users of this platform include the following:

Fig.2 Major companies using the Magento platform

• 5) Demandware recognized as very difficult to use and focused on working with large projects. The advantages of this system include safety, reliability, flexibility in use. The main disadvantage of this platform is the high license fee, which forms a threshold for large businesses to enter the platform: from 0.75% to 1.25% of sales through the online store per month.

The following companies use this system:

Fig.3 Major companies using the Demandware platform

• 6) IBM WebSphere Commerce Platform allows you to interact with consumers or businesses directly or through partners. The advantages of this system include the ability to support the site 24 hours a day, as well as the high quality of the services provided.

Companies that use this platform include the following:

Figure 2 Major companies using the IBM WebSphere Commerce platform

Chapter 3. E-commerce trends

It is worth recognizing that this market has received great development both in the world and in Russia. Its average growth rate in the world is 18-20%, in Russia - 17-18% per year. According to researchers, this market is still in its infancy, despite the spread of various e-commerce services. But it is generally accepted that companies that do not develop in this direction can definitely disappear from the market in the future. But, it is worth noting that in Russia, as in the United States, a large number of online stores belong to a small number of offline networks, and the absorption process continues.

You can follow the change in the global e-commerce market on the following chart:

Rice. 4. Worldwide e-commerce market 2012-2017, trillions, percent change

The trends of this market include the widespread use of Mcommerce, which is gaining momentum. It is estimated that if the company does not adapt its services for mobile phones, there is a high probability of losing 25% of consumers.

It is also possible to determine multi-channel in relation to market trends: for online stores, this is the opening of points of issue of goods, for offline companies, it is necessary to open online stores.

Even more popular and necessary for companies is the use of Big Data, which involves the analysis of large databases with the subsequent identification of difficult-to-determine relationships between individual indicators. The results obtained are subsequently used by companies in determining further actions for successful functioning in the market. The use of Big Data contributes to deepening the personalization of stores, complicating the mechanism for setting up a product selection, but at the same time, this is a plus for the consumer, since he can adjust the choice to his own preferences, and the list of criteria for choosing products becomes larger, making the products presented at the end of the selection more suitable for individual buyer.

Logistics has received active development in the e-commerce market. With regard to Russian realities, this problem is acute. Today, a large number of distribution points are being built, delivery channels are being set up, which could ensure a short travel time for the product from the seller to the consumer.

In addition, it is worth noting that the automation of trade is also developing: while the world giants (Amazon, for example) have these opportunities, but later the automation of purchases, order collection, delivery, etc. will be widely used in Russia.

Thus, we can conclude that the e-commerce market is rapidly developing and growing not only in the Russian Federation, but throughout the world. This is reflected in the search for new approaches to trade via the Internet, and the search for new channels for the use of e-commerce. Despite high competition, the markets of the post-Soviet space are not yet on the same level as the world ones, but, importantly, Russian sellers, realizing this, are trying to adapt to the existing conditions. As information technologies develop, the field for action will increase, where Russian companies will be able to prove themselves.

• Translation

From the translator: this translation is intended for those who are taking their first steps in the field of e-Commerce or are just thinking about creating a business in this area. Here, in fairly large strokes, it is outlined what it is worth starting with and what it is desirable to think about at the beginning of this long (and, of course, interesting) path. We decided to add a few links to our articles and translations to the material - you can refer to them in order to study in more detail a number of issues raised in this topic.

Perhaps you have recently thought about starting an e-commerce business, like many others. And this is not surprising, given the increase in sales in this area by 12% in the US in 2013 alone. This means that the total proceeds from such sales amounted to about $296 billion. Incidentally, the e-commerce industry in India also expanded by 30% compared to last year in 2013. Now there the share of proceeds from e-commerce is $12.6 billion.

You can read about what features characterize American e-commerce in our post "What Russian e-Commerce can learn from American"

Looking at the numbers listed above, you might think that this industry is too big for you to be involved in such activities, but this is simply not true. In fact, it will be easier for you to open your own business and start selling products, precisely because this market is so large. Yes, there is competition here, but there are also a huge number of buyers browsing the offered goods in online stores with a wallet at hand.

This article will show you how to start an e-commerce business from the ground up, building a strong base, so that your business can grow and develop properly. We will not delve into more complex processes such as sales organization and logistics, because they are not the main problems at the start.

Beginning of work

E-commerce is one of those types of business that is the easiest to start your own business, since here you will not encounter any special obstacles. You don't need a lot of capital, you don't need a $10,000 website, you don't need to spend $4,000 every month on non-manufacturing expenses, and you don't even need to have a warehouse. We will discuss the topic of the warehouse in more detail a little later.

Of course, the tips below are quite universal, but if you are interested in the regional features of e-commerce, we advise you to refer to our publication "7 success factors for an online store in Runet".

The first thing you need to do is define your e-commerce goals: do you want to open a sort of "shopping mall" and sell everything you can get your hands on? Or would you rather create a specialty store focusing on meeting the specific needs of society by selling your products?

Malls are more likely to succeed when trading on a large scale, and there is a constant risk of failure if you don't have a lot of capital to invest, don't have the resources to do quality market research, and the like. Also in this case, it takes much more time to purchase a large range of goods from reliable suppliers.

The best option for you at the very beginning is to choose a specific specialization, or niche, in other words. This is a small area of ​​the market in which you will strive to take a leading position as an expert in this field. Examples here are: riding equipment, scooter equipment, original motorcycle helmets, T-shirt printing or toys for children from 3 to 6 years old. By choosing a niche, you significantly increase the chance of success, and also make it much easier to find suppliers, manage sales and logistics.

You will need to find reliable suppliers in order to trade in quality goods. Look for suppliers in your field and see what they offer. If you are purchasing a product from another country, you should study the import regulations and the import duty system. If you don't want to maintain too much storage space, then a dropshipping system is also a good fit, where you essentially buy from a supplier only when a customer places an order with you. Thus, the lack of risk makes this option quite suitable for you in the early stages.

So, once you have decided on what you want to sell, the next step is to consider where to sell. Don't worry too much about this, as e-commerce is a big industry today, and there are dozens of places to sell where you can list your items, even with a limited or no budget!

Building a highly professional brand

When you build a brand through e-commerce platforms and/or marketplaces, you should have a consistent buying audience as well as sufficient capital. You should use this capital to re-invest in your internet business, thereby increasing your sales, and overall developing your online trading activity.

The first thing to do is to present yourself correctly on the Internet, which will require the development of a specialized website for the sale of goods. Building an e-commerce site is not an easy task, which is why it is best to hire a web designer - don't try to build the site yourself. Ask him to use website development platforms. They allow you to make small changes yourself without the help of a web designer, and thus you will avoid future costs.

Your logo and branding are also important factors to consider. It depends on them what buyers will associate your products with. Hire a professional graphic designer and have him/her design a beautiful logo that perfectly reflects your business.

Drawing up a unique selling proposition (USP)

As your firm becomes more well-known, you will need to think about a unique selling proposition (USP). It is easy to sell a few items from time to time, but expanding your business and thereby increasing sales and revenue is much more difficult, and this requires more careful planning, preparation, and also more intensive work.

Your USP is what sets you apart from your competitors, it's the reason your customers will buy from you instead of them. When compiling a USP, you need to think about the shortcomings of the industry and how they can be corrected. This could be extended warranties, reduced delivery times, improved customer support, or detailed product catalogs to help customers purchase exactly what they need.

Many e-commerce firms choose price as their USP and, in most cases, they are negatively affected by this. Buyers who are looking for the cheapest product are most likely not the customers you are looking for. There is a possibility that you still do not have sufficient capital due to the fact that you want to purchase goods at a low price, which requires bulk purchases. What's more, if your store doesn't specialize in selling discounted items, your customers will go elsewhere as soon as someone offers cheaper items.

Track important information and key metrics

Keeping track of meaningful information and key metrics is very important, as this will help you improve your performance and deal with any future challenges. Analyzing information means evaluating your business objectively. You simply cannot argue with the data if it is in front of you.

The most accessible KPI and the easiest to track is the conversion rate. It shows the number of users who bought a product from you relative to the number of all visitors to your online store. For example, if 1,000 people have visited your site, but only 20 of them have made purchases, then the conversion rate would be 2%.

Another metric to look at is the cost of acquiring a customer (CAC or CAC, Cost of Acquiring Customer), which reflects how much money was spent persuading customers to buy something from your online store. For example, if you spent $2,000 persuading 50 visitors to buy from you, your CAC would be $40. The lower this number, the better.

The number of "shopping carts" is also important, as it reflects how many visitors were going to buy from you, that is, the number of your potential buyers. Try to keep this figure as low as possible - a high value of this indicator may mean that your site needs some work.

Average order value (CVZ or AOV, Average Order Value) is the average amount of money that one customer spends shopping on your site. You should try to constantly increase this figure, for example, by assigning discounts for bulk orders or additionally offering various related products or something similar. Amazon does a great job of using this technique by placing links in the "Users who buy this item also buy..." section.

The value of a customer during his life cycle (LTV, Lifetime Value) is considered the most important indicator in e-commerce. It reflects the total amount of money spent by one customer minus the cost of attracting him. So if, for example, a customer revisits your online store four times and spends a total of $600, then the LTV value will be $560, assuming you spent $40 to acquire them.

By tracking the information and key metrics above, you will be able to know exactly how successful your online business is at any stage. This can be very helpful when you start planning to expand your business, expand your inventory, increase your revenue, get more traffic to your site, and the like.

In November 2016, RBC market research analysts conducted a large-scale study of the e-commerce market in Russia. They analyzed the main indicators of the industry, conducted a sociological survey among 3,000 online shoppers from all over Russia. The study provides an analysis of the survey results, assessments of the state of the Russian e-commerce market and trends for 2016-2017.

Rusbase gives the main theses of the report. More details: follow the link.

Other RBC reports Market Research: .

In nominal terms, for 9 months of 2016, the growth in the turnover of retail trade in food and non-food products amounted to only 2.4%. Real growth, which takes into account consumer inflation, went negative and amounted to -5.3%. In the context of the crisis and falling consumer demand, the e-commerce market managed to show a positive trend - about 6%. The non-food retail sector did the best - it managed to increase its share in the total turnover from 3.8% in 2015 to 4.2% in 2016.

According to RBC Market Research, in 2016 the turnover of the entire market (excluding sales of coupons for discounts) will amount to 944.3 billion rubles, which is 5.8% higher than in 2015.

Dynamics of the volume of the B2C segment of the Russian e-commerce market in 2009-2016, billion rubles, %

Every year, cross-border trade occupies an increasing share in the structure of the commodity segment of the Russian e-commerce market. Foreign online stores seek to "beat" Russian companies due to lower prices and an expanded range of goods. This intensifies competition in an already highly competitive market. The increase in the presence of foreign players in the e-commerce market has been worrying both top domestic online retailers and the regulator for several years now.

In October 2016, the Federal Customs Service proposed lowering the threshold for duty-free importation of goods from foreign online stores into Russia, and in December, the Ministry of Finance announced that cross-border online trade should be subject to the same taxes and duties as offline retail. Against this background, foreign online stores are trying to minimize possible damage - for example, some are already granting Russian online projects the right to place goods on their websites, which allows expanding the range of cross-border players and increasing the number of buyers of Russian online stores.

Services are bought less and less

Another large segment of Russian Internet commerce (paid Internet services) is inferior to other sectors both in terms of development rates and in terms of market share. If in 2014 paid Internet services occupied 14.1% of the e-commerce market, by 2016 their share had decreased to 11.8%. In monetary terms, the segment of paid services did not undergo significant changes: in 2014 it amounted to 113.7 billion rubles, and in 2016 its turnover did not exceed 111.0 billion rubles.

Consumers seek savings

According to the results of RBC Market Research polls, the vast majority of Russian online shoppers have made purchases at least once with the help of . However, 6 out of 10 respondents try to shop online less often. 37% of online shoppers reported that over the past year (November 2015 to November 2016) their spending on goods and services online has decreased. For 26%, according to the survey, the costs have not changed, and for 25% of respondents, they have increased.

Dynamics of changes in spending on purchases in online stores, 2015-2016, % of respondents who made purchases in online stores

At the same time, one in four respondents in 2016 increased their spending on online purchases compared to last year. In particular, 50% of respondents began to make online purchases more often, and 11% began to buy more expensive goods and services. However, more than half of the respondents link this directly to rising prices. Also, the increase in prices is one of the reasons for the positive dynamics of the e-commerce market.

Compared to the previous year, the number of respondents who noted the increase in prices decreased from 69% to 57%. At the same time, the share of those who began to buy more often increased by 10%. Despite the slowdown in price growth, it is still noticeable for the majority of Russians. This, however, does not affect the demand in the e-commerce market - it continues to increase.

Dynamics of changes in the reasons affecting the increase in expenses, 2015-2016, % of respondents who increased expenses on the Internet

Delivery is losing popularity, and almost everyone is interested in discounts

Over the past two years, there has been a growing number of consumers who prefer the pickup feature to other online shopping models. In 2016, it was 53.9%.

There are two reasons for this: firstly, online stores are expanding their network of distribution points (and not only in large cities, but also in the regions), and secondly, buyers are trying to save money during a crisis. Order with subsequent delivery, in turn, loses popularity for two years. The most unpopular option is to order and pick up at the nearest retail store (because few retailers implement a multi-channel development strategy).

“Which ways of buying goods via the Internet are the most PREFERRED for you?”, 2014 – 2016*, % of respondents who made purchases of goods in online stores

Properly conducted sales will help to increase traffic and increase the conversion of online stores: in 2016, 91% of respondents began to pay attention to promotions and special offers.

Buyers trust cards, but not electronic money

From 2010 to 2016, the proportion of online shoppers paying with cash dropped from 70% to 46%. 70% of buyers prefer payment by plastic cards. Services are losing popularity - WebMoney, Yandex Money, RBK Money. However, thanks to integration into mobile, they managed to reverse the negative trend of recent years – in 2016, the share of buyers using electronic wallets increased from 12% to 17%. International electronic payment systems (QIWI, PayPal and others) are popular with another 15% of online shoppers.