Russia E-commerce Intelligence

In a press release Ozon said that in January–July 2026 the average total spend by a seller on all platform services equalled 24.73% of the sale price; the mandatory sales commission averaged just 1.54% (the published nominal range is 1%–52%, flattened in practice by bonus points and discounts), while average logistics spend was 7.5%. Six out of ten sellers paid no more than 1.3% commission, about 20,000 of 700,000 entrepreneurs paid 9% or slightly more, and 25,000 sellers kept total spend below 15%. The platform attributes the spread to category specifics, promotional intensity and seasonality. What this means for Chinese sellers: do not price off the published nominal commission table — real cost depends on category, promo intensity and whether you use platform logistics; self-shipping and off-platform traffic can keep total cost under 15%, while heavy use of platform fulfilment and promotion pushes it close to a quarter of the sale price, so the pricing model must separate commission, logistics and promotion.

The same Ozon disclosure shows H1 2026 e-commerce revenue of RUB 523.9bn (+45% y/y), order volume up 78% y/y, active buyers at 69.2mn (+14%) and more than 700,000 active sellers. What this means for Chinese sellers: order growth (+78%) far outpaces buyer growth (+14%), so expansion is driven by purchase frequency rather than new customers — acquisition-led tactics are yielding less, while repeat purchase and basket management deserve more investment. With over 700,000 sellers on board, intra-category competition will keep intensifying.

Pavel Lyulin, head of the retail real estate association ATER, said the association will ask the Industry and Trade Ministry to allow marketplace pickup points and mini-warehouses inside vacant shopping-mall space; the proposal is already before a joint ministry working group with the platforms and a formal letter will be filed in coming days. Four formats are envisioned: 150–300 sq m micro-hubs, 300–700 sq m district logistics nodes, 700–1,500 sq m mini-fulfilment centres, and city reserve hubs of up to 5,000 sq m. For context, mall food courts closed three times more often than they opened in H1 2026. What this means for Chinese sellers: if adopted, in-city forward stocking and pickup coverage should improve, creating an opportunity to pre-position goods closer to buyers under the FBO model; but no storage or last-mile tariffs have been published and it is unclear whether foreign sellers will have access, so wait for the ministry's formal response before reshaping inventory strategy.

Citing foreign-trade expert Tatiana Vinnitskaya (Custom bureau), Kommersant reports that parallel imports peaked at about $6bn per month in 2022, averaged $1.9bn per month in 2025 and fell to roughly $1bn in January 2026 — no longer the main mass-market channel, now used mainly for selected foreign brands, premium and built-in niche models and original spare parts. The mass segment has shifted to direct imports from Asia and Turkey, contract manufacturing and local assembly. Meanwhile Chinese supply has expanded sharply: about 2.45mn refrigerators and over 3mn washing machines were shipped to Russia in 2025, versus roughly 1.1mn and 580,000 in 2021. Main routes are sea freight via Russian ports, rail, and trucking through Kazakhstan. The expert also notes Chinese banks have tightened checks, often requesting contracts, invoices, certificates of origin and logistics documents — physically shipping goods from China is now often easier than getting the payment through. What this means for Chinese sellers: the higher the share of direct, fully documented sourcing, the more stable clearance and settlement; grey parallel-import economics keep deteriorating, so premium categories dependent on them (Western brands, built-in appliances) will keep getting costlier — do not baseline your pricing on grey-channel costs.

The Finance Ministry has drafted amendments to the law on customs regulation changing how customs payment recovery decisions are appealed. Today an appellant must post a bank guarantee or cash deposit equal to the assessed amount to suspend enforcement; the draft requires the security to also cover interest and penalties accrued during the appeal, and extends the guarantee term from seven to nine months. It also extends from three to five years the period during which customs control can be resumed after an appeal is upheld. The Association of Customs Lawyers objected in a 4 September letter, arguing that small and mid-sized businesses will either have to pull large sums out of working capital or abandon disputes altogether, and that old shipments will face prolonged uncertainty with price and origin having to be proven years later. The ministry confirmed receipt and noted the draft is open for public discussion until 11 September; the Federal Customs Service said the framework is unchanged but specific proposals are welcome. What this means for Chinese sellers: suspending a customs decision will cost more, and records for past shipments (pricing, origin, logistics documents) will need to be kept for at least five years; consider submitting comments before 11 September and audit your declaration basis and document retention now.

According to retailer M.Video, Russians bought 10.3mn large home appliances in H1 2026 (+7.8% y/y), but market revenue fell from RUB 239bn to RUB 236bn (-1.5%). By category: dryers +23.1%, freezers +19.2%, refrigerators +15.6%, washing machines +13.5%, built-in hobs +9.9%, dishwashers +8.7% — while washing machine revenue fell 0.6% and hobs 6%. The average unit price dropped about 8.6%: refrigerators from RUB 40,400 to RUB 36,000, washing machines from RUB 33,400 to RUB 29,300. The mix shift is starker: front-loading washers under RUB 21,400 went from 14% to 33% of units, and dishwashers under RUB 18,500 from 8% to 20%. By units the top five are Weissgauff, Haier, Gorenje, Indesit and LG; by value Haier, Gorenje, Weissgauff, LG and Indesit — no dominant brand (long tail takes 37% of units and 29% of value). What this means for Chinese sellers: demand is intact but the price band is moving down — build assortments around the RUB 20,000–30,000 core with clear, perceptible features; brand premium is weakening so value-for-money entry works, but budget for after-sales and spare parts, since repair-service turnover rose 51% over three years as consumers fix rather than replace.

Alexander Peremyatov, co-chair of the retail real estate association ATER, said more than half of local apparel and footwear chains in shopping centres have no new collections, which will drive a sharp drop in footfall. He expects a significant share of troubled Russian fashion brands to close in late 2026 – early 2027, calling it a natural-selection phase after the wave of domestic brands that entered the market from 2022. Brands already in difficulty include Desport, O'STIN, Modis, Zenden and Gloria Jeans, and most mall closures are domestic fashion brands. What this means for Chinese sellers: the retreat of local chains frees up apparel and footwear share online, especially in mid- and low-priced basics and seasonal categories; but competitor destocking will trigger short-term price wars, so build markdown headroom into apparel pricing from Q4 2026 to Q1 2027 and plan seasonal replenishment timing early.

Binance Investments Co. and the National Bank of Kazakhstan signed a memorandum of understanding: the exchange will open a group representative office in the country, obtain a first-category payment organisation licence, move part of its operations to Kazakhstan and serve a significant share of CIS and Eastern European clients through the country. The signing was attended by central bank governor Timur Suleimenov and Binance founder Changpeng Zhao. The regulator said the project became possible after Kazakhstan reformed its digital financial asset (DFA) rules and introduced the new payment-organisation category, allowing new payment and financial services alongside banking ones. What this means for Chinese sellers: another potential legal digital payment route via Kazakhstan — useful for those selling across several CIS markets and looking for non-bank settlement channels. But an MoU is not a launch: currencies, fees and timelines are undisclosed, and the compliance status of crypto channels inside Russia remains ambiguous, so it should not become your primary repatriation path.

A source in the Indian government familiar with summit preparations told TASS that BRICS is looking for practical mechanisms to reduce trade transaction costs, with discussions on settlement in national currencies and central bank digital currency platforms representing a search for ways to make bilateral trade cheaper. He stressed these measures are seen as a supplement to existing global payment and settlement systems, are not directed against any specific country, and are conducted independently within the finance ministers and central bank governors track. The 18th BRICS summit will be held in New Delhi on 12–13 September; Indian media earlier reported that India may present a concept for seamless cross-border digital payments and CBDC adoption at the summit. What this means for Chinese sellers: if local-currency settlement and CBDC interlinking actually materialise, settlement friction and intermediary costs between Russia and China could fall; but this is still agenda-level technical discussion with no mechanism or timetable, so do not adjust your receivables setup on this basis yet.

Deputy Industry and Trade Minister Roman Chekushov, speaking to TASS on the sidelines of the Eastern Economic Forum (held in Vladivostok on 1–4 September), said Russian online retail may grow 18%–20% in 2026, with about 20% growth in the first half. He stressed growth remains in double digits, though slightly below last year. This is the ministry's first explicit full-year range for online retail. What this means for Chinese sellers: the official view confirms the online market is still expanding in double digits, but also confirms deceleration — the phase where rising tide lifts sales is ending, and further growth will come from category choice and operations rather than market beta; budgeting on 18% rather than 20%+ is the safer assumption.

Kokoc Group, using a 21-category sample for June 2025 – July 2026, estimates combined Ozon and Wildberries turnover at RUB 5.4tn, of which Moscow accounts for just 26.3% and the regions over 70%. Among large regions, Krasnoyarsk leads on growth (+10.2%, RUB 253.9bn), followed by Voronezh +9.5% (RUB 388.1bn), Tyumen +8.8% (RUB 227.3bn) and Yaroslavl +8.3%; Moscow grew only 6.7%, while St Petersburg and the North-West, the largest non-Moscow cluster at RUB 950.3bn, grew just 0.6%. Average tickets differ little: Voronezh RUB 1,701, Rostov-on-Don 1,676, Krasnodar 1,664, Tyumen 1,659, versus RUB 1,606 in Moscow and the Moscow region. By category outside Moscow: auto goods 80.2%, sports and leisure 77%, construction and renovation 75.9%, apparel 75.4%, home appliances 73.5%. Pickup-point growth has slowed to 24% a year in megacities while holding at 50%–62% in the regions. What this means for Chinese sellers: shift assortment and ad spend out of Moscow, prioritising auto goods, sports, construction and apparel; regional average tickets are not below Moscow's, so there is no case for automatic discounting down-market; and with regional pickup points still expanding fast, FBO stocking in regional warehouses will deliver a bigger speed advantage.