Knight Frank named the countries whose brands may appear in Russia

Western brands that left Russia may be replaced by chains from Belarus, Kazakhstan, Italy and Turkey, Evgenia Khakberdiyeva, regional director of the consulting company Knight Frank, said at the conference Retail Day: e-com, logistics, warehousesorganized by Kommersant Publishing House.

“There was a lot of talk that China, Korea, India, Iran would come, that we would have many international brands. Now we already understand that not much will come and no one wants to invest in Russia. But there are those who are ready – these are Kazakhstan, Italy and Turkey. These are the partners who transport the goods, the main thing is that the logistics do not fail,” said Ms. Khakberdiyeva.

The expert also noted that Russian companies that were on the market before that very quickly adapted to the situation: “Thank you very much for the pandemic, which taught our business to be as adaptive as possible. In a few months, companies have developed new formats, so in most projects they are ready to replace international brands that are leaving. Also, do not forget about parallel imports, which come not only to marketplaces, but also offline.”

After the start of the military operation in Ukraine, a number of large international companies announced a reduction in their presence in the Russian market, a complete withdrawal from Russia or the sale of their assets to local players. The reason for the departure of foreign brands is often the inability to conduct logistics and financial operations against the backdrop of Western sanctions.

As Knight Frank reported in July, in 2022, for the first time in its history (since 2014), only two foreign brands entered the Russian retail market. This is an absolute minimum even compared to the first half of 2020, when six foreign companies entered the domestic market due to the coronavirus pandemic.