Learn the key insights for localizing your business for the Russian market. Discover the challenges and opportunities of Russia's growing e-commerce landscape and how to successfully reach Russian consumers.
The Russian market is one of the largest in the world. If you want to grow your company internationally, you’ll surely want to access it sooner rather than later and begin to think about localizing for Russia. So, Let’s take a look at some statistics:
According to a report from Morgan Stanley, internet penetration in Russia stands at 80%. And, smartphone penetration is not lagging far behind at 66%. This means there are lots of potential customers for your products or services. However, the level of e-commerce is still very low – read on.
Although internet penetration in Russia is quite high, e-commerce (toward the end of 2018) had only a 3% share of the total retail industry. There are many reasons for this situation, but the main thing you should be concerned with is the future.
The Morgan Stanley report predicted that e-commerce in Russia would grow by 170% during the following five years. This means that by 2023, the Russian e-commerce industry is expected to be worth over US$ 56 billion. Consequently, Russians will increasingly be spending a lot of money online. So now is the perfect time for you to position yourself to reach this growing market by localizing for Russia.
However, localizing for Russia is not an easy task. First off, the Russian language uses a Cyrillic script, and then Russians also use their own distinct social media platform and search engines. So let’s do a deeper dive into what you need to know about localizing your business for the Russian market.
The cyrillic script means that the text will expand by about 15%-20% when you translate your content into Russian. This is a very significant factor to consider if space for your content is restricted by buttons, calls for action, etc.
Depending on which type of company you are, you will find other challenges on your road to success. B2C companies will be challenged for the following reasons:
Much like Baidu in China, Russia has its own homegrown and widely-used search engine, Yandex.Ru. In January 2019, Yandex held a market share of almost 54% compared to Google’s 42.69%. Other search engines are practically non-existent, with a combined market share of less than 3.5%.
The takeaway here is that your website content, metadata, and product manuals need to be in Russian. If you don’t localize for Russia, there is no way your target audience will find you on Yandex. You will never rank high enough to make any inroads into the Russian market. You should also consider placing your online ads with Yandex.Direct instead of Google.
Another issue differentiating Russia from other markets is that Facebook and Instagram are not the top social media platforms on the online landscape. Instead, Russia has its own popular social network, Vkontakte or VK. Over 60% of the Russian population uses VK, compared to 35% who use Facebook and 31% who are on Instagram.
If you are looking to market your good or services in Russia, you need to know what Russians are buying online and where they are buying from.
As you can see from the chart, the top sellers online are clothing (including shoes), cosmetics, and small appliances. As for sources, Chinese and other foreign e-commerce companies are strong in certain product categories but almost or totally non-existent in others.
It is apparent that Russia is a vast and diversified market, and the growth in e-commerce is set to continue far into the future. However, it is also clear that Russia is a very distinct and specific market, both in terms of marketing and localization.
An English-only website will only hinder you from reaching a Russian audience. So, if you are considering entering this potentially lucrative market, feel free to reach out to us. Localize can help you localize for Russia, so give us a shout-out today.
At Localize, our passionate writers explore a wide range of localization topics, from technology trends to cultural insights. With diverse backgrounds in various fields, they bring unique perspectives to their articles, aiming to inform and inspire our readers.
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