Page 103 - RusRPTFeb19

20-21% YoY rise in 2017), although it still remains robust. Data Insight estimates that in 2018, the number of orders through foreign online shops is going to be slightly above that in domestic shops (300mn vs. 290mn). However, the average bill at the latter is more than three times that in foreign shops (RUB 3,970 vs RUB 1,161). According to the Russian Association for Electronic Communications, almost two thirds of the domestic e-commerce increase was delivered by growth at Wildberries and Ozon (might increase 70- 80% in 2018).
Russia’s food service market growth accelerated to 5% y/y in 2018, fast food is the leading sub-segment The growth of the Russian food service market accelerated to 5% in 2018, from 2% in the previous year, according to NPD Group, VTB Capital (VTBC) said in a note on January 25. According to Target Global the food delivery market in Russia is worth about $1.4bn. The most promising trends were demonstrated in the fast food category, which grew 13% y/y and accounted for 46% of the market across the eight largest cities in Russia. Moscow and St Petersburg demonstrated a flattish traffic trend, while other cities with a population of over 1mn demonstrated 12% traffic inflow. Traditional restaurants lost 6% of turnover, for the sector’s worst result. The outperformance of the fast food category is driven by still pressured household budgets as well as the rapid rollout and promotional activities of the key players. In our coverage, we forecast net openings for Domino Pizza of 76 per year in 2019-23F and think that the company will see 70% of its new restaurants in Russia, so that the country accounts for 63% of revenues by 2023. We maintain our Hold recommendation with a 12-month Target Price of TRY 130,” Maria Kolbina of VTBC said in a note. Many of the leading internet companies in Russia have been getting into the burgeoning food delivery business. Currently the market leader for food deliveries is Delivery Club, owned by Mail.ru Group. In second place is Yandex.Food. The most recent entry was leading Russian online retailer Ozon which will launch a new delivery service for food from cafes and restaurants in Moscow by mid-2019, project manager Nikita Nechaev told Vedomosti on January 21.
The member states of the Eurasian Economic Union (EAEU) – Armenia, Belarus, Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan and Russia – are considering creating a digital currency in 2020 or 2021, the Russian deputy finance minister Alexei Moiseev stated last week. Such a move is “inevitable,” the TASS news agency quoted Moiseev as saying, because of increasing difficulties in trade and exchange calculations and due to Western sanctions which affect “a growing number of organizations.”
More than eight out of ten (83%) of Russians used the Internet in 2017, which is a 1.7-fold increase from 2010 when the Internet penetration stood at 49%, a study by the Higher School of Economics’ Institute for Statistical Studies and Economics of Knowledge found, as cited by Tass on December 6. At the same time in 2017 60.3% of Russian adult population used the Internet every day. Over half of the users (52%) are under 40. But in the past three years the share of the Internet users among those aged over 50 has almost tripled to 30%
Russians buy half of all their consumer goods online, according to Romir holding. The share of the online purchases jumped by 32% year-on-year in 2018, with the frequency up by 21%. Total online sales will come to RUB1.1 trillion ($18.2bn) this year but could triple in the next three years according to experts.
103 RUSSIA Country Report February 2019 www.intellinews.com