Russia

Russia’s business landscape has been marred by international sanctions. Consequently, the Russian state has enacted numerous reforms designed to facilitate business operations. Nevertheless, widespread corruption and excessive state influence are ...

Despite economic headwinds in some markets, the toys and games industry continues to see growth globally. However, the continuing adoption of smart devices and digital entertainment at an ever earlier age puts a spotlight on the need for seamless ...

In 2018, cigarettes in Russia suffered a further heavy decline in retail volume sales, with the category having been on a downward trajectory for nearly a decade. This ongoing contraction can be attributed to a number of factors....

Cigarillos remained the largest category in cigars and cigarillos in 2018 in both retail volume and current value terms. This is mainly due to the difference in price between cigars and cigarillos, particularly large cigars. Cigars are basically the ...

The Russian tobacco industry continued to shrink in retail volume terms in 2018, while value sales in current terms increased, primarily due to a further rise in taxation....

In 2018, heated tobacco products posted another dramatic performance, recording a triple-digit increase in current value sales, in turn becoming larger in size than the e-vapour products category. This huge gain can be almost entirely attributed to ...

At the end of the review period, daily disposable lenses posted better current value and retail volume growth than frequent replacement lenses. This could be attributed to consumers’ willingness to spend on their comfort and convenience in terms of ...

In 2019, eyewear in Russia continued to be negatively affected by the economic slowdown in the country and consumers’ low disposable incomes. Weak consumer purchasing power resulted in price sensitivity and trading down among consumers in eyewear. ...

Retail sales of spectacle frames showed a sluggish value performance in 2019. At the end of the review period consumers began to visit optical shops for new eyewear products less often. The majority of Russians continued to be negatively affected by ...

Consumers’ low purchasing power as a result of their low disposable incomes continued to negatively affect retail value sales of sunglasses at the end of the review period. The majority of Russians tried to economise in 2019, including through less ...

Overall toys and games achieved high value sales growth in 2018 in Russia. However, traditional toys and games, the larger of the two categories, is struggling due to continuing economic uncertainty, which is directly translating into lowering ...

Traditional toys and games sales are struggling to achieve significant growth due to a clear consumer shift to cheaper products. This is linked to continual economic uncertainty, with households’ incomes fluctuating in constant 2018 terms throughout ...

Static consoles recorded high value sales growth for the second year in a row in 2018. The category continues to recover from its sluggish performance during the highest peak of the economic crisis during the review period. Healthy sales of static ...

Cats were still the most common pets in Russian households at the end of the review period, which explains the dominance of cat food in overall pet food. Wet cat food accounts for the most significant volume and value share of cat food in Russia, ...

Dry dog food, which is favoured in Russia for its relatively low unit price, accounts for the most significant volume and value share of dog food. Sales of wet dog food are much smaller as this type is only occasionally added to a dry dog food base ...

While owning a cat or a dog is fairly common in Russia, keeping small mammals or reptiles as pets is less usual, but becoming more commonplace a consumers’ worlds are opened up by the internet and the food, and products required for such pets becomes...

Pet food in Russia is seeing moderate price increases, in line with or slightly higher than the inflation rate. As a result of economic downturn and the decline in consumers’ expenditure, there is high promotional pressure in a number of consumer ...

Cat litter and other pet products continue to see moderate value growth in Russia. Cat litter dominates value sales of pet products and, in the forecast period, is expected to see its sales rise further due to the increasing cat population in Russia ...

The number of newborns in Russia fell for the third consecutive year in 2018, despite the introduction of additional measures to encourage a rise in the birth rate in 2017. According to the Russian Federal State Statistics Service, in 2018 the birth ...

Russian consumers maintained their frugal spending habits in 2018 as the economy showed no signs of recovery and disposable incomes continued to fall. Russians learnt how to survive with less expensive products and also to carefully analyse them so ...