Russia's demand for household and repair supplies rises, with orders up 77%

By the end of 2020, the order volume of the online market for household and repair supplies in Russia had increased by 77% year-on-year, and the transaction value had increased by 58% year-on-year. Data Insight said that this market segment has great potential.

Data shows that the number of orders for household and repair supplies accounts for 4% of the Russian online market. Last year, Russia received 29.5 million orders for household and repair supplies, with a total amount of 277 billion rubles, and an average order amount of 9,390 rubles (about 824 yuan). In terms of the number of orders and online sales, the largest category is tools for repair and construction.

Data Insight 's study included 123 home and repair supply online stores that specialize in building repair supplies, tools, plumbing, lighting, household goods, furniture, seeds, etc.

According to research data, these online stores most often use Yandex.Market for sales, with 71% of online stores on this platform. In addition, these online stores also use social networks for marketing , and VKontakte, the Russian national social network, is their favorite. 93% of online stores have their own communities. Instagram ranks second, with 80% of online stores having their own Instagram accounts.

Boris Ovchinnikov, an expert at Data Insight , said that on some levels, the home repair supplies market segment was difficult to move online, but the epidemic became a key turning point.

Wildberries (hereinafter referred to as WB), the largest e-commerce platform in Russia, believes that it is not accurate to attribute this change entirely to the epidemic. On the one hand, these stores began to actively develop their online channels before the epidemic. On the other hand, they have also achieved success.

A relevant person in charge of WB said: "Last year, WB's sales of repair products increased by 681% year-on-year, and sales revenue increased by 605% year-on-year to 3.3 billion rubles." Currently, there are about 1,615 sellers selling repair supplies on WB, which is almost five times the number a year ago.

Boris Ovchinnikov said that after 2020, the proportion of these products purchased online by both end buyers and professionals will increase significantly. However, he predicted that this year's growth is unlikely to maintain the same level as last year, and the growth is expected to slow down.

WB also said that due to Russia's mortgage boom, the transaction volume of new homes and suburban homes will continue to rise, and consumer demand for household and repair supplies will also rise.

Russia