Is Russia’s rapidly expanding ecommerce market too big to be ignored by the big brands?

Russia, a once unimaginable destination for foreign investment and expansion has, in recent years become a growing ecommerce superpower, brands of all shapes and sizes are now locked at the horns attempting to break into an unexploited ecommerce markRussia, a once unimaginable destination for foreign investment and expansion has, in recent years become a growing ecommerce et.  

Not only has Russia joined the World Trade Organisation back in 2012, but it has increased its internet penetration rate and internet usage rates significantly. As Russia boasts the most internet users in Europe, with still only a reported 49% percent of its population having access to the internet, the country has got potential grow its ecommerce wealth to rival Europe’s elite.

With the chance the average annual ecommerce spend per internet user in Russia could increase, businesses in search of profits in foreign lands should be licking their licks at the prospects of expansion into the motherland.

Expanding into an unknown and complex territory can have its risks for brands unfamiliar with Yandex and Russian consumer behaviour. It has been unwise of many to assume in the past that international marketing strategies used on Google and Bing will suffice on Yandex. Yandex is a different kettle of fish and should be treated as such, Yandex is the Russian Google – If you want to sell online in Russia you need to be on Yandex.

Yandex enjoys 95 million monthly users racking up over 4.8-billion searches every month. Here’s the whopper though, Yandex. Market is set to account for 10% of entire ecommerce sales in 2013. With the market share predicted to be at 75% by 2020, that percentage of entire sales is only set to increase exponentially.

 So how do you get your optimisation strategy to work on Yandex? Here are some key things to know:

Russian search markets infographic

Source:  Search Laboratory

 

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