In recent years, the country has experienced explosive growth in online commerce.
One of the main reasons is the rapid development and popularity of digital platforms where you can find any product. Today, more than 70 million Russians regularly make online purchases. And behind the Internet counter, more than half a million entrepreneurs offer them various products.
Given the scale of the process, the HSE School of Communications and the Russian Fields sociology firm decided to find out how entrepreneurs themselves assess the role of markets in the development of their businesses. The results of the survey and in-depth interviews dispelled several popular myths.
Myth one: Online commerce is a business for big companies.
In fact, 70% of the participants in the study created their business from scratch on the marketplace. At the same time, more than half of sellers (54% of respondents) and almost 90% of owners or tenants of pick-up points (POP) do not consider leaving the marketplace at all, even in a hypothetical case. For them, this is the most convenient format of work.
Second myth: the main profit goes to online platforms and not to those who work on them.
On the contrary, 94% of respondents consider marketplaces to be the most convenient way to start a business. And only 2% prefer offline platforms – ready-made shops, stalls and counters. The vast majority of respondents (91%) agree that marketplaces help to quickly (in a matter of months) increase the audience of buyers across the country, accept payments, receive and ship goods, accept and return them. Marketplaces even simplify communications such as receiving consumer complaints.
Entrepreneurs are also attracted by the low entry threshold: in their opinion, it is possible to start a business in the markets with an investment of 100-150 thousand rubles. It is impossible to start a simple store with such a budget.
Myth Three: Most sellers are resellers.
Indeed, during the pandemic, a significant part of sellers entered the marketplaces as resellers. However, in recent years, organizing more complex businesses, including own production, has become a priority for them.
An interesting result of the study was the gender portrait of online entrepreneurs: women (62%) were more active than men (38%). According to experts, the ability to work independently of location and have a flexible schedule, leaving time for family and children, plays a decisive role in this.
An important point: in the future, more than 80% of entrepreneurs will expand their business through marketplaces. The main incentives for them are revenue growth (53%) and consumer audience (25%), business convenience (17%), wide range (7%), demand and availability of delivery points (5%). Only excessive additional government regulation can force online platform sellers to abandon their development plans: inspections, new technological requirements and non-commercial restrictions (e.g. legislatively approved obligations to prioritize some products over others, etc.).
More than two-thirds (69%) of respondents are seriously concerned about the possibility of tightening the regulatory framework for online businesses. At the same time, almost half of them expressed their readiness to leave the business if regulation complicates the work of marketplaces. State regulation is of particular concern for those running businesses in LLC format and for tenants/owners of pick-up points.
Among the difficulties are the requirements of the state system for labelling, certification and traceability of goods. For small businesses, taking all these aspects into account generates significant costs of doing business. And when it comes to assessing risks, these aspects outweigh the costs arising from internal market policies (fines, the need to participate in discount promotions, advertising, etc.). Respondents point out: the overall result of combining state regulatory policies and markets is often a more severe burden on entrepreneurs than in offline businesses. Hence the call for government support, fair and adequate regulation of the industry.
“The results of the study convincingly show the high involvement of sellers of small and medium-sized businesses in trading processes on marketplaces and their concern about the prospects of these platforms for entrepreneurship in the country,” says one of the authors of the study, professor at the Faculty of Communications of the Higher School of Economics of the National Research University Evgeniy Kozhemyakin. “The participants in the study note the great importance of marketplaces in stimulating the development of SMEs, bringing to the domestic market not only handicraft products, but also consumer goods of local producers, increasing the competitiveness of Russian brands and supporting the entrepreneurial competencies of sellers and owners of industrial goods.”
Moreover, the existing network of pick-up points makes it convenient for millions of customers, especially residents of small towns, to purchase equipment, cosmetics or clothes. Therefore, experts are sure that alternatives to marketplaces have not yet been invented.
_____________________________________________________
Who works in the markets?*
Female entrepreneurs (69% of respondents) aged 30-44 (58%), running businesses as freelancers (62%) and sole proprietors (30%) in Moscow (59%), Central Federal District (23%) and Southern Federal District (5%). About 80% of respondents are sellers, 20% are tenants or owners of pick-up points with 1-5 years of experience (over 90%) in business. A little less than half of respondents (41%) have no offline or off-market business experience.
Approximately 60-70% of respondents have experience of interaction with Ozon and Wildberries, about a third – with Yandex Market and 14% – with MegaMarket (SberMarket, SberMegaMarket).
*Based on research conducted by the HSE School of Communications and the Russian Field.
_____________________________________________________
Reference
The HSE School of Communications and the Russian Field study was conducted in June 2024 (a survey of over 1000 respondents and in-depth interviews with 20 respondents from small and medium-sized businesses that conduct their business primarily through marketplaces: sellers/vendors, owners or tenants of collection points, etc.).
