Sales of regional entrepreneurs on marketplaces grew in 2022

The growth of the domestic e-commerce market in 2022 amounted to 33%, Artem Sokolov, president of the Association of e-commerce companies, told Vedomosti. In the absence of any dramatic events, currency fluctuations, the same growth will continue in 2023 – indicators of 25-30% have already become a stable trend in online commerce, he believes.

“The influx of new sellers to marketplaces is a generally all-Russian trend in 2022, caused by a number of factors,” Sokolov notes. – Only in the first six months – after the withdrawal or suspension of certain brands from the Russian market, the closure of their retail stores, the legalization of parallel imports, and the blocking of social networks in which a number of entrepreneurs were selling, the number of active sellers at different sites increased by 2.5- 3.5 times. Now there are more than a million of them registered, and more than 80% of them are regional entrepreneurs.”

According to a representative of the government of Tatarstan, the number of online sellers on marketplaces in the region doubled over the year – by 96.6%. At the same time, according to him, the total number of Russian sellers on the leading marketplaces grew by 50.8%, and in the whole Volga Federal District – by 62.7%. The share of Tatarstan sellers in the Russian e-commerce market increased from 2.52% to 3.28% over the year, says the source of Vedomosti. In total, at the end of 2022, the revenue of sellers from the region on marketplaces doubled year-on-year (+100.3%) and amounted to 50.37 billion rubles.

Tatarstan is the first region of Russia where (since 2021) its own program for the development of the e-commerce trade industry is being implemented, Farid Abdulganiev, Commissioner for the Protection of Entrepreneurs’ Rights under the head of the republic, explained to Vedomosti. It includes financial and non-financial business support measures for promotion on electronic trading platforms, the provision of benefits and subsidies for logistics companies (including during the construction of distribution centers), expanding the geography of product acceptance points for entities SMEtraining entrepreneurs, the self-employed and managers at various levels who are responsible for the development of online commerce in the field, he said.

Within the framework of the regional program, Internet commerce clusters, industrial parks and the Sviyazhsk Interregional Multimodal Logistics Center, container transportation have been created in Tatarstan. In 2021, the Wildberries marketplace placed a logistics center with an area of ​​100,000 sq.m in the Zelenodolsk industrial park near Kazan. Ozon continues to expand its fulfillment center queues. The Tatarstan marketplace KazanExpress is completing the launch of the first stage of a large warehouse complex in the Sviyazhsk Interregional Multimodal Logistics Center (SMMLC) in the Zelenodolsk district.

Also, KazanExpress, controlled by AliExpress Russia, signed a partnership agreement with the Russian Post on the creation of a pilot bonded warehouse in Tatarstan, wrote “Vedomosti”. The federal experiment to launch a duty-free customs regime there will begin in April 2023. Another such facility is planned to be built in the Moscow region. In a bonded warehouse, online retailers will store uncleared foreign goods and pay taxes and duties only for the goods actually sold, and not for the entire batch. In Kazan, it will be located on the territory of the international airport, its capacity will be 1.2 million departures per day.

The republic creates conditions for suppliers, makes infrastructure investments, for example, in trunk and warehouse logistics, Alexander Ivanov, head of the National Association of Distance Selling, explains the reasons for the growth. According to the Wildberries marketplace, sales of entrepreneurs from the regions grew by 116% in 2022 (in Tatarstan by 180%). According to a representative of Wildberries, sales of products of entrepreneurs from Kalmykia (+294%), Tambov region (+262%), Khanty-Mansi Autonomous Region grew most actively. (+245%), Tyva (+239%) and Krasnoyarsk Territory (+232%). In 2022, the number of entrepreneurs from these regions on the online platform increased by 2-2.5 times year on year.

The greatest activity of sellers is more often noted where support for entrepreneurs at the local and regional levels is well established, says Sokolov.