Expert: Russian e-commerce market grows 22% to 498 bln rbl H1

MOSCOW, Sep 12 (PRIME) -- Russia’s e-commerce market increased 22% on the year to 498 billion rubles in January–June and will grow by a quarter as of the end of 2017 and already exceeds a third of the country’s digital economy, Alexei Fyodorov, head of the Association of Internet Trade Companies (AITC), told reporters on Tuesday.

The volume of incoming parcels soared 34% to 178 billion rubles. Most of goods, 90%, were purchased by Russian citizens in China, 4% in the E.U., and 2% in the U.S.

China also led by the volume of money spent in online stores with 52%, while the E.U. accounted for 23% and the U.S. for 12%. “It shows a quite small average check in China,” Fyodorov said.

Most of purchases in foreign online stores, 64.7%, cost less than 22 euros, according to the association. Items worth 150–500 euros accounted for 2.7% of operations, and those for 500–1,000 euros for 0.9%.

Electronics, household appliances, apparel, and footwear were the most popular categories both on local and foreign markets.

As of the end of 2017, the association expects incoming parcels to rise 39.2% on the year to 420 billion rubles. The total e-commerce market will rise 25% to 1.15 trillion rubles as of the end of the year.

“In such a way, according to the AITC, the Internet trade in goods and services accounts for 36% of the volume of the digital economy in Russia,” the association said.

In total volume of the e-commerce, internal trade holds 63% and cross-border – 37%.

(57.1694 rubles – U.S. $1)

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