Page 88 - RusRPTSept20

previous years, which ranged from 35% to 45%. By the end of 2020, experts predict a growth of 55% – up to RUB41.9bn ($562mn), if remote work continues to be a trend, TASS reported. According to the results of H1 2020, the market leaders were ivi online cinema (with a constant share of 23%), Okko multimedia service (its share increased to 17% from 12%) and YouTube video hosting (the share decreased to 9% from 11%). The shares of Megogo (up 7%), Rostelecom (up 6%) and Netflix (up 3%) decreased by 1 pp. The biggest revenue growth (4.6 times) in H1 2020 was shown by the Start online cinema, whose market share was 4% – the same as that of Kinopoisk, Amediateka and Megafon TV. In second place in terms of growth rates is Okko, whose revenue grew 2.2 times. Ivi, Rostelecom and Premier have increased their revenues by about 1.5 times. In addition, according to TelecomDaily, for the first time, the share of revenue from purchases of video on demand (one-time paid rent or purchase of a digital copy of a unit of content) exceeded the share of revenue from advertising (27.1% versus 26%). The subscription model still dominates sales (46.9%).
In August 2020 the demand for online orders' pick-up points franchise has jumped by 35% year to date, supported by partnerships with large e- commerce marketplaces, Franshiza.ru calculated for Kommersant daily. The demand for online shopping and delivery solutions amid coronavirus (COVID- 19) lockdown, covered in detail by bne IntelliNews, has pushed the pick-up points to the top three of most demanded franchise businesses, after groceries and pharmacies. Notably, the analysts surveyed by Kommersant note the low cost of setting up a pick-up points. For example, the right to set up a pick-up point terminal for Ozon e-commerce major would cost RUB0.2mn, while the initial investment and maintenance costs are also limited. Over 45% of those seeking pick-up point franchise are landlords that want to fill up empty floor space or to diversify their business. Pick-up point operator Boxberry told Kommersant that it plans to expand its chain from current 3,600 terminals to 4,300 by the end of 2020. Russia's largest e-commerce platform Wildberries develops its own pick-up point chain of 7,600 terminals, to be expanded to 8,000 by the end-2020.
Russia’s smartphone imports shrank by 22.4% on the year to $1.27bn in April–June and by 11.5% to 6.48mn devices in retail prices excluding value- added tax due to the coronavirus pandemic, researcher International Data Corporation (IDC) said on August 17 in a statement. It explained a deeper fall in cash by moving of the customer demand to cheaper models. “The largest share in units was presented by the price category from $150 to $200, while a year ago, it was a category from $200 to $300. Many inexpensive models of smartphones are today equipped with large displays, but the highest rise was shown by the smartphones with a screen diagonal of over 6.5 inches,” IDC said. Every second smartphone was imported to Russia under the Chinese brands Huawei, Honor, and Xiaomi.
88 RUSSIA Country Report September 2020 www.intellinews.com