MOSCOW, 28 February 2024. Russian Public Opinion research Center (VCIOM) presents the findings of a survey devoted to purchases in marketplaces.
Go online for shopping
According to the July data, 71% of Russians have gone to malls over a year to a varying degree. The findings of the latest February survey reveal that the same percentage of respondents say that in 2023 they made purchases at least once in a marketplace (71%). Twenty-eight percent of Russians have not purchased anything from a marketplace.
Those who more often buy things from marketplaces are women (74% vs. 68% of men), respondents with higher and incomplete higher education (80%), urban dwellers (69-81% vs. 64% of rural area inhabitants), as well as active Internet users (88% vs. 21% active TV viewers). Online shopping is extremely popular among those aged 18-34 (93-94%). It is less common among the over 60s and active TV viewers (56% and 77%, respectively, have not purchased anything online).
What we buy…
The findings show that the most popular category of items respondents buy from marketplaces are clothing and shoes (47% in 2023). This is followed with a large gap by beauty and health products (23%, 41% of the 18-24-year-olds), electronics and domestic appliances (20% and 19% respectively), children’s items and pet goods (19% and 17%, respectively). Every seventh respondent has bought foods and art and hobby goods for the past year (15%, each); a further 13% bought car products, 12%, goods for construction and repairs. Every ninth often purchased household goods including detergents (11%); every tenth, books and office supplies (10%). Less popular items are sport and recreation goods (7%), furniture (5%) and jewelry (2%).
Men and women have different consumer preferences: female respondents tend to opt for clothing and shoes (56% vs. 35% of men), children’s goods (23% vs. 12%), beauty and health products (32% vs. 11%), and pet goods (21% vs. 11%). Male respondents tend to buy car products (23% vs. 5% of men), electronics (32% vs. 10%), construction and repairs products (17% vs. 8%), sport and recreation products (11% vs. 4%). |
…and what we pay attention to.
One of the apparent drawbacks of online shopping is inability to touch the product and to check its quality. To counterbalance this drawback, vendors often pay attention to visual content - infographic, photos, videos, and product description. As the survey suggests, visualization is not the key criterion when choosing an item in the marketplace; most of respondents draw attention to the reviews and the product price (65% and 52%, respectively, among those who have purchased something from marketplaces over the past year).
About a quarter of respondents pay attention to a detailed description of the product (27%) and nearby pickup points (23%), whereas every fifth has a penchant for sales promotions and bonuses (19%). Other important things are delivery date (17%), vendor rating (16%), product return (15%) and quality photos (13%).
In the oldest cohort (60+) price is prioritized (49%), whereas only 43% in this group look at product reviews (vs. 65% of total respondents). On the contrary, young Russians aged 18-24 tend to read reviews (78%) and look at vendor rating (31% vs. 16% of total respondents) before buying a product; promotions and bonuses are important only for 8% of respondents (vs. 19% across the sample). |
Those Russians who have recently purchased something from marketplaces are more likely to choose different vendors (73%), and only a quarter of respondents buy from verified sellers they have previously bought from (25%).
VCIOM-Sputnik Russian nationwide telephone survey was conducted 18 February, 2024. A total of 1,600 Russians aged 18+ took part in the survey. Survey method: telephone interviews, stratified random sample based on a complete list of mobile phone numbers in use in Russia. Data were weighted for social and demographic characteristics. The margin of error at a 95% confidence level does not exceed 2.5%. In addition to sampling error, minor changes to the wording of questions and different circumstances arising during the fieldwork can introduce bias into the survey.
Key effectiveness indicators, survey of February 18, 2024: cooperation rate (CR)* = 0.7618; minimum response rate (MRR)** = 0.0162; response rate (RR)*** = 0.1032. Calculations are based on the corporate standard: https://profi.wciom.ru/principy_standarty/korporativnyj-standart-po-izmereniyu-rezultativnosti-oprosov-sputnik-vciom/
* CR: the number of complete interviews divided by the sum of: а) complete interviews and b) non-interviews with eligible respondents.
** MRR: the number of complete interviews divided by the sum of: а) complete interviews, b) interrupted interviews after successful screening and c) all the respondents where it is unknown whether they meet the selected criteria or not.
** RR is calculated in the same way as MRR, with the only difference that the number of respondents with unknown eligibility decreases proportional to the percentage of eligible cases in the total number of respondents with identified eligibility or non-eligibility.
Let’s talk about marketplaces. They are platforms where vendors sell various products. For example, Ozon, Wildberries, Yandex Market, et cet. Did you purchase anything in marketplaces at least once in 2023? (close-ended question, one answer, % of total respondents) | ||||||||
Total | Men | Women a | Ages 18-24 | 25-34 | 35-44 | 45-59 | 60 + | |
Yes | 71 | 68 | 74 | 94 | 93 | 83 | 73 | 43 |
No | 28 | 32 | 25 | 6 | 7 | 17 | 27 | 56 |
Don’t know | 1 | 0 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 1 |
What kind of items did you buy most frequently in 2023? (close-ended question, up to 3 answers, % of those who purchased something in marketplaces at least once in 2023) | ||||||||
Total | Men | Women a | Ages 18-24 | 25-34 | 35-44 | 45-59 | 60 + | |
Clothing, shoes | 47 | 35 | 56 | 50 | 43 | 52 | 51 | 38 |
Health and beauty | 23 | 11 | 32 | 41 | 22 | 22 | 18 | 20 |
Electronics | 20 | 32 | 10 | 23 | 22 | 23 | 16 | 15 |
Domestic appliances | 19 | 22 | 16 | 11 | 18 | 17 | 19 | 28 |
Children’s goods | 19 | 12 | 23 | 10 | 27 | 28 | 14 | 9 |
Goods for pets | 17 | 11 | 21 | 18 | 22 | 12 | 17 | 17 |
Foods | 15 | 13 | 17 | 12 | 14 | 16 | 16 | 18 |
Art and hobby | 15 | 14 | 16 | 23 | 12 | 16 | 14 | 13 |
Car products | 13 | 23 | 5 | 11 | 11 | 15 | 14 | 11 |
Construction and repairs | 12 | 17 | 8 | 3 | 11 | 15 | 14 | 11 |
Household goods, including detergents (from “other”) | 11 | 8 | 13 | 9 | 8 | 9 | 12 | 15 |
Books, office supplies | 10 | 9 | 11 | 16 | 12 | 12 | 8 | 7 |
Sport and recreation | 7 | 11 | 4 | 12 | 8 | 6 | 8 | 2 |
Furniture | 5 | 4 | 6 | 3 | 6 | 6 | 7 | 3 |
Jewelry | 2 | 2 | 3 | 4 | 2 | 2 | 2 | 2 |
Other | 2 | 2 | 2 | 1 | 1 | 1 | 2 | 4 |
Don’t know | 0 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 1 |
What do you pay attention to first when buying products in marketplaces? Up to 3 answers are possible (close-ended question, up to 3 answers, % of those who purchased something in marketplaces at least once in 2023) | ||||||||
Total | Men | Women a | Ages 18-24 | 25-34 | 35-44 | 45-59 | 60 + | |
Reviews of other customers | 65 | 60 | 69 | 78 | 71 | 71 | 65 | 43 |
Price | 52 | 53 | 51 | 50 | 49 | 55 | 54 | 49 |
Product description (detailed description / quality /photo) | 27 | 25 | 29 | 24 | 27 | 23 | 31 | 30 |
Pickup points nearby (location, hours) | 23 | 21 | 25 | 16 | 20 | 26 | 24 | 28 |
Sales promotion, bonuses | 19 | 15 | 22 | 8 | 20 | 24 | 16 | 25 |
Delivery date | 17 | 18 | 16 | 18 | 19 | 16 | 14 | 18 |
Seller rating | 16 | 18 | 14 | 31 | 23 | 14 | 14 | 4 |
Product return option | 15 | 13 | 17 | 12 | 12 | 15 | 19 | 18 |
High quality photos | 13 | 12 | 14 | 19 | 15 | 12 | 11 | 12 |
Seller’s own website / online shop | 3 | 3 | 3 | 5 | 4 | 2 | 3 | 3 |
Cashback option | 2 | 2 | 3 | 3 | <1 | 3 | 3 | 2 |
Large assortment (from “other”) | 1 | 1 | 1 | <1 | 1 | 1 | <1 | 1 |
Product manufacturer (from “other”) | 1 | <1 | 1 | <1 | <1 | <1 | 1 | 1 |
Home delivery option (from “other”) | <1 | <1 | <1 | <1 | <1 | 1 | <1 | 1 |
Other | 1 | 1 | 1 | <1 | <1 | 1 | <1 | 3 |
Don’t know | 1 | 2 | 1 | <1 | 2 | <1 | 1 | 3 |
Which statement is closer to yours? (close-ended question, one answer, % of those who purchased something in marketplaces at least once in 2023) | |
Total | |
I prefer to buy products in the marketplaces from verified sellers and stores I have bought from | 25 |
I don’t have any preference for a seller or a store when it comes to marketplaces; I buy from different sellers | 73 |
Don’t know | 2 |