Products from large chains may be 5–10% more expensive when delivered than in stores
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Rising costs of delivering products due to a shortage of pickers and couriers are driving a trend toward differentiated pricing across online and offline channels. Products from large chains may be 5–10% more expensive when delivered than in stores, which allows you to offset some of the costs. Some analysts see in this approach the risks of slowing growth in demand for delivery, but others note that indexation may not be as noticeable for consumers who are accustomed to the service.
Food retail chains in Russia have developed a trend towards differentiated pricing online and offline, according to Infoline’s review of the market for February 2024. It says that market players are pricing in rising last-mile costs, including due to an “unprecedented shortage of personnel,” especially collectors and couriers. At the end of 2023, the average salary offered to couriers by delivery operators across the country increased by a third, as was previously calculated in Avito Work and Salary Index (see Kommersant Online, February 22). The most actively differentiated pricing is used by hypermarket chains such as Lenta and Metro, as well as Vkusville and Dixie, Infoline clarifies.
General Director of Infoline-Analytics Mikhail Burmistrov says that prices for online orders can increase by 5–10%, which helps offset the costs of assembly and delivery. Another strategy, he said, involves cutting off small orders with an increase in the minimum receipt depending on the workload of couriers or a specific dark store, at which delivery becomes free or cheaper. The latter, the expert clarifies, is common when ordering from restaurants or from services such as Yandex Shop and Samokat.
A representative of Vkusville confirmed that prices in the catalog on the website may differ from prices in the store, and when ordering online, the cost of the product may vary depending on the location. The network notes that this approach allows prices to be adapted depending on logistics and does not mean that “prices will only differ upward.”
Metro notes that selling goods with delivery involves additional costs that must be partially offset by pricing, but this is not a standard “markup.” They added that “demand characteristics and price sensitivity of customers” are also taken into account, and online prices may be lower than prices in an offline store. Lenta, X5 Group (Pyaterochka, Perekrestok), Magnit (including Dixie), Samokat and Yandex Lavka did not respond to Kommersant.
At the end of 2023, online sales of food products in Russia increased by 47%, to 918 billion rubles, year on year, calculated in Infoline. Market dynamics are slowing down. In 2022, according to Infoline, online food sales year-on-year grew by 63%, to 625 billion rubles, in 2021 – by 146%, to 382.5 billion rubles. Infoline’s top three major players for 2023 include Samokat, Vkusville and X5 Group.
Senior analyst at Gazprombank Marat Ibragimov points out that an uneven increase in prices in the online channel may reduce demand for delivery, which will affect market dynamics. Data Insight partner Fedor Virin notes that there are not enough couriers on the market even with increased salaries, which means that retailers will have to increasingly subsidize delivery or the service will continue to rise in price. According to him, instead of differentiating prices, market participants can refuse promotions in the online channel. Marat Ibragimov notes that the costs of couriers can be optimized by combining assembly and delivery of different players.
Mikhail Burmistrov believes that the current increase in prices for products when ordering online is unlikely to pose significant risks to demand. According to him, for many consumers accustomed to express delivery, such indexing may not be very noticeable. But at the same time, the expert agrees that most buyers are still not ready for expensive delivery.
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