Page 14 - RusRPTSept20

2.7 Watcom shopping index almost back to normal
Russia’s Watcom Shopping index has recovered all the ground it lost during the lockdown as consumers return to Moscow’s biggest shopping malls, Watcom said in a press release on August 21.
The lockdown that started in May caused the index to collapse as consumers were shut up in their apartments for nearly two months. the index is complied in near real time using 3D cameras and measures foot traffic the leading malls in Russia’s capital. The index has recently been included in the Oxford Economics rapid GDP index that measures economic activity on a weekly basis using similar indicators.
The Oxford Economics index also said that Russia’s GDP is now 94% of its March 1 benchmark level before the double whammy of the collapse in oil prices and coronacrisis hit.
The retail trade has been particularly vulnerable to the coronavirus pandemic, but it is also very elastic and once restrictions on movement were relaxed it has bounced back sharply.
The index was at 410.7 in the 33 week of this year, below the 438.7 a year earlier but ahead of the 409 recorded in the same week in 2018. The index was underperforming previous years before the crisis as shopping habits in Russia have changed in recent years with an increasing number of Russians buying online and also a trend of shopper abandoning the big mall for smaller more specialised shops closer to home.
14 RUSSIA Country Report September 2020 www.intellinews.com