Page 117 - RusRPTDec22

9.1.5 Retail sector news
Russia’s postal service has launched deliveries of European fashion brands like Zara and H&M that have exited or reduced their presence in Russia this year over the war in Ukraine, the state-run TASS news agency reported on November 29. Shipping companies in Russia have been exploring workarounds after hundreds of Western companies withdrew from the Russian market in response to the February 24 invasion of Ukraine. State-owned Russian Post said it partnered with Hong Kong-registered Pochta Global as an intermediary that places orders for Russian users who sign up on its platform, according to TASS. Customers have the option of paying for their orders with either Russian or foreign bank cards. Pochta Global launched this summer, billing itself as a service for Russian bargain hunters on eBay and Amazon with pickup points across 38,000 Russian Post offices in 14,000 Russian towns and cities. The service is now available to fans of Italian, Spanish and French fashion retailers starting the same day.
German-owned Metro chain of retailer stores plans to remain on the Russian market and maintains its operations, the company’s press service told TASS. "Metro is maintaining its operations in Russia and is not planning to leave this market," the press service said. According to the company’s preliminary results in Russia, in the 2021-2022 financial year (ended September 30) its sales grew by 22.3% y/y to 2.9bn euros, the press service added.
China is bolstering its share on the Russian market and tapping into new niches after numerous Western companies exited the country, Russian Ambassador to Beijing Igor Morgulov told Tass on November 17. "The exit of many Western corporations from our country has provided Chinese companies with the opportunity to increase the share of their products and to tap into new niches on the Russian market, which I expect they will use," he stressed. "In fact, the process is underway already," the diplomat stated. Russia’s diplomatic mission and trade mission are providing help to China in every possible way, he noted.
Canadian manufacturer of outerwear and sportswear Helly Hansen will leave Russia, and the local executives plan to launch outlets under the Move brand, business daily Vedomosti reported on November 14, citing CEO of the Russian business Igor Roganovich. "Helly Hansen has decided to wind down its Russian business... according to the SPARK-Interfax (business register), executives Igor Roganovich and lawyer Andrei Karasyov became the new owners of Helly Hansen LLC instead of Helly Hansen Russia AS at the end of August. The company was renamed to Retail RTs," the newspaper reported. The company will launch 10 outlets until March 2023 to sell goods under brands Nike, Adidas, Puma, Mont, Kronos, Geox and Under Armor. The
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