Russia is Europe’s fastest growing online market, but what exactly is the current state of the Runet? Check out the infographic below for some useful insights:
The impact of Hofstede’s cultural dimensions in marketing
Introduction If your company is targeting international markets, then it is essential that you tailor your marketing campaigns to the local culture of each market. Culture profoundly affects the way
Elin Box
March 4, 2025
2 responses
Interesting. Any reasons why Russians don’t buy online?
@Chrys: Sorry for not replying before now. Good question, and obviously vital to making the correct decisions.
The Russian internet is still in a growth phase, meaning that many users are newcomers. Keep in mind that internet penetration is still below 50% of the total population. In this regard, as internet markets grow mature, consumer trust in ecommerce generally rises. Additionally, as the infographic indicates, the majority of orders currently include an offline process, where goods ordered on the internet are paid upon delivery.
For this reason, it’s an uphill battle for pure online players in Russia, as the far majority expect companies to have an offline presence where they can go in the event of facing a problem.
There may be many other reasons, such as poor online payment infrastructure, but low consumer trust is definitely one of the main reasons. However, the internet is rapidly evolving and will explode in value over the next few years, as Russians become more familiar with internet. Alongside, the ecommerce infrastructure will become more sophisticated, again resulting in increased consumer trust.
Hope this answers your question?