Russian retailers have been rocked for the past six weeks as epidemic fears were mounting among the population. Even before the shutdown of many offline outlets—which was ordered in Moscow on March 31—online demand surged across a host of products.
Conservation-type food products became in strong demand in late February, with market leader Utkonos reporting a 60% sales spike in comparison with the same period of last year.
E-commerce companies also reported a rush, sometimes fleeting, on many other food items as well as on refrigerators and other home essentials.
In the first “non-working week” (as the authorities call the lockdown), from March 30 to April 5, Russians’ consumption habits changed drastically. The number of online orders at cafes and restaurants increased by 78% in comparison with the last week of February, according to Yandex.Checkout, the online payment arm of Yandex.
Delivery activities are being transformed by the epidemic. In March, restaurants and cafés massively switched to online orders, forcing Delivery Club, a market leader, to simplify its integration procedures.
X5 Retail, a leading Russian food retailer, has begun installing self-checkout machines across its Pyaterochka proximity stores. Tested successfully in August and September last year, these self-checkouts are now already installed at 369 stores. The plan for 2020 is to have a total of 12,000 units operating. “Through mass implementation of self-service technologies, [we] seek to minimize contact between customers and store personnel,” the company stated.