Online stores will be required to stimulate Russian manufacturers

The Ministry of Industry and Trade is developing a bill on the “Russian regiment”. According to its authors, the document will apply not only to traditional retail trade, but also to online sales.

It is expected that retailers will have to display up to 50% of Russian goods on the shelf – this applies to supermarkets. Whereas marketplaces will be required to display the first 50 cards of Russian goods in a search query.

The State Duma, which is working on approximately the same bill, is following a parallel course. It is not yet known how these documents will differ from each other. However, according to Deputy Head of the Ministry of Industry and Trade Viktor Yevtukhov, the government bill “will not be an alternative”, but it “will be associated with a support mechanism that will ensure priority for Russian manufacturers and domestic goods.”

It is already clear that the future lies in online trading. If earlier they talked about some competition with supermarkets, today large network players are creating their own online channels. For older Russians, accustomed to convenience stores or markets “two tram stops away,” such services are incomprehensible. They need to see the product in person, and even better, bargain.

However, online sales have their advantages.

“Huge selection, millions of products, prompt delivery, even if the order is coming from another city,” says one customer.

“I only go to supermarkets for groceries,” continues the second interlocutor. – I buy everything else on marketplaces.

Among the disadvantages, she notes the inability to “touch” the purchase with your hands, although detailed characteristics are given for it. It happens that the product that is not exactly what is needed is delivered. But in any case, there are more advantages. After all, the purchase can be returned without any problems, and in the online system it costs less – there are much less overhead costs.

But many of the respondents are not enthusiastic about the initiative of the Ministry of Industry and Trade to saturate marketplaces with Russian industrial goods. Nowadays, domestic products are often more expensive than imported ones, and imported ones are mainly made in China. There are fears that if, under conditions of sanctions and limited imports, the government begins to greatly help domestic producers, who are already in a privileged position, then fair, healthy competition will disappear. And today the price-quality ratio in online trading is quite satisfactory for the buyer.

Chairman of the Board of the Association of Market Retail Experts Andrei Karpov believes that it is necessary to saturate trade in Russian industrial goods not only in network, but also in online trade. To move away from dependence on imported supplies and create offers within the country.

“Here we can draw an analogy with food,” he explains. – In 2014, the share of domestic products in the country was significantly lower than it is now. If 2014, relatively speaking, happened in 2022, then the ban on food supplies from many countries of the world, which exists today, would have very serious consequences.

Now we have significantly reduced our dependence on imports; probably, most supermarkets have a “Russian shelf” with products. Some regions literally raised their agricultural production from scratch. For example, the Kaliningrad region and Sakhalin, which historically were focused on supplies from other countries.

– But how will this law stimulate industry?

– When it appears, Russian manufacturers will have a guarantee that their products will not sit in warehouses, but will end up on the retail shelf and find a buyer. Investors will begin to invest in the production of goods whose market share is still very low. I mean the same household appliances or light industrial goods. We will gradually localize such production.

– What will happen in the end? Will prices rise? Otherwise, we know from the experience of past years that Russian manufacturers like to screw them up at every opportunity…

– I believe that nothing special will happen. We are not talking about removing imported goods and foreign brands from retail shelves. And the trade itself is interested in their availability to the buyer. Competition will continue, and it will be a restraining factor for price increases.