Online Shopping in Russia :
For a Western person, the default meaning of «online shopping» includes paying for goods or services via the internet, but in Russia this is far from being the case.For example, some 80% of transactions at Ozon.ru, a leading Russian online megastore, are in cash, says its director general Maelle Gavet.
“The Russian customers don’t feel very comfortable with online transactions,” she explains.
They prefer to place an order online, and then go to a pick-up point, touch the goods, make sure everything is in order and then pay, says Ms Gavet.
Another extremely popular way of shopping online in Russia is to find a website, give them a phone call, have the goods you need (including fridges) delivered by a courier and then pay in cash.
“This is also linked to the fact that credit (and debit) card penetration is much lower in Russia than in the West, and they tend to naturally prefer to pay by cash,” says Ms Gavet.
So, how do you teach a nation to shop online properly and without fear?
ONLINE SHOPPING incentives
That is why Ozon.ru - ranked second biggest online shop in Russia after food retailer Utkonos.ru by Russian internet company InSales - and others have been working hard to make potential customers believe that they can be trusted.
Among other things, Ozon.ru set up 24/7 call centres in Russia “to make people understand that we are real people”, says Ms Gavet.
Some companies also resorted to offering discounts to those brave enough to try paying for goods and services via the internet.
For example, to make Russians buy e-tickets, national carrier Aeroflot offered a 3% discount, compared with a several per cent surcharge for those buying tickets in person.
M-Video, a huge high street electronics retailer, went for a 5% discount for people paying for their online orders by card.
Ms Gavet says that Ozon.ru welcomes offline retailer’s attempts to establish their solid online presence.
“Competition is good, because we need to educate customers, and Ozon.ru itself will not be able to do it,” she says.
Delivery network in Russia
While Ozon.ru introduces itself as “The Amazon of Russia”, the company admits that there are some huge differences between the two due to the specifics of the Russian market.
For example, the Russian online megastore has been busy setting up its own delivery network – “unlike Amazon who had an amazing chance to have UPS when they started, and the American post”, explains Ms Gavet.
www.biz-russia.com