Column by Anatoly Kostyrev about the fate of alcohol in the online channel

Those who have been following the series that has been going on for the last six years about the impending legalization of online alcohol sales probably kept the date November 1, 2023 in mind. On this day, as reported almost a year ago, an experiment on selling Russian wines through the Russian Post website was to be launched in Moscow and the Moscow region. On October 31, a selection of pictures with jokes about the speed of delivery by Russian Post appeared in industry Telegram channels. But the reason hasn’t happened yet.

Russian President Vladimir Putin gave instructions to conduct an experiment with the online sale of Russian wine through Russian Post back in 2021, but the deadlines were shifted. In the fall of 2022, the then general director of Post, Maxim Akimov, in an interview with the RBC TV channel, “expressed confidence” in the first shipments of wine in April 2023, but this did not happen either. Although it might seem that progress has been made. This spring, RBC reported that a government commission had approved a bill to conduct an experiment, and Russian Post said that they were preparing the infrastructure and thus hoped to increase the popularity of Russian wines. In May, the bill was proposed for adoption in the State Duma in the first reading, but already in June the document was postponed indefinitely.

Launching a legal online alcohol retail business has likely hit several roadblocks. Back in 2021, a top manager of a large brewing company said that the pandemic could have made adjustments, causing the state to change its priorities. And in 2022, hostilities began in Ukraine, accompanied by tightening Western sanctions, and many issues were again pushed into the background. Meanwhile, several groups lobbied for their interests, which was unlikely to contribute to a quick resolution of the issue.

According to market interlocutors, the largest players in the online trading market were primarily dissatisfied with the experiment of selling Russian wine only through Russian Post. And the activity of the latter probably no longer satisfied the largest retail chains, which opposed the legalization of the remote sale of alcohol. For those, alcohol has become an even more important category recently with consumer austerity weighing on margins.

As WineRetail noted, in the heat of battle, one of the goals of the entire story was forgotten – to support the sales of small Russian wineries. But, apparently, the government decided that increased duties on imported wines from unfriendly countries could cope with this purpose. And Russian Post seems to be more busy lobbying for an infrastructure payment of 0.5% of quarterly turnover from online platforms with revenue of over 1 billion rubles. in year. For now, “gray” sellers are responsible for the delivery of alcohol.