The expert told which perfumes can disappear even with parallel imports

The Ministry of Industry and Trade of the Russian Federation approved the inclusion of cosmetics and perfumes in the list of goods for parallel imports, which means that foreign perfumes, lipsticks and creams may appear in Russian stores without the knowledge of the copyright holders. The news is very timely: since the lion’s share of foreign manufacturers, especially the premium segment, have announced their intention to leave Russia, now retailers are only selling off the remnants of old stocks. Many shoppers have already discovered a shortage of their favorite beauty products.

The exception is the products of those brands that have their own production in our country, as well as those that have not yet expressed their intention to leave Russia. They do not need to be parallelized, their goods arrive on the shelves without interruption. If all goes well, then the first vials and bottles brought through parallel imports will hit the shelves in September.

The list of brands available for parallel import is being adjusted. It is possible that it will be considered irrelevant if the assortment can be filled with alternative brands – Russian or produced in friendly countries.

“Some brands have been removed from the list of exclusions, as the retail chains receive an insufficient amount of goods from these manufacturers, in particular, Lancfme, Redken, Yves Saint Laurent, Helena Rubinstein, Valentino, Giorgio Armani, Kerastase. We will continue to monitor the situation with import supplies, and, if necessary, certain positions will be added or excluded to the list,” the Ministry of Industry and Trade of the Russian Federation said in an official statement.

So buyers will have to follow the dynamics of the situation – it is possible that the once-favorite goods will return or, conversely, will completely disappear. So far, nothing can be said for certain.

“We are really looking forward to this parallel import,” said Polina, a consultant for one of the French luxury brands. – If it is not there, then the stocks will run out in the fall: now we are selling what is left in the warehouses. We have already begun to optimize stocks: from the small stores of our network, goods that have become scarce are collected in large, flagship ones. However, marketers have a long work to do: I think they will not bring all the goods in a row, they will choose those for which there is the greatest demand. So someone can easily face the situation that their favorite perfumes, despite the parallel import, will no longer exist.

According to Polina, there are always customers who are dissatisfied with the choice of a brand – for example, when a product is discontinued as the least popular (or replaced by another), there are always buyers for whom it was a favorite. So it is with parallel imports – experts will decide what to buy and bring to Russia in a roundabout way: and it’s not a fact that everyone will like their choice.

– I think that premium lines will most likely disappear. A bottle of such perfumes is 100 ml and now costs about 22 thousand, and with parallel imports it will rise in price even more – in Russia there simply will not be proper demand for such a product. Therefore, there will be no profit for suppliers. Maybe they will bring 2-3 bottles for each store, just in case. But this, again, is just my assumptions, – the consultant added.

In addition, according to the consultant, one should not hope for the opportunity to quickly get acquainted with the new products: if they reach Russia, then with delays.

The next issue that worries buyers is prices. They will inevitably grow: this is due to future problems with logistics and product certification, as well as delivery times.

Among other risks, perfume market experts cite a difficult situation with counterfeit verification (in fact, it will be impossible to check whether genuine Chanel is brought through alternative channels), as well as an inevitable decrease in customer service. Most of the sales assistants who worked with luxury brands were trained directly by the brand – and had to meet the international standard. Now that the brand is not officially represented in Russia, there will be no one to supervise consultants, which means that you won’t have to count on a detailed and competent story about the properties of the new cream.