How to Boost your Online Business in Russia
At present, the COVID-19 pandemic has changed the market dynamics of the entire world. People who preferred to buy from brick-and-mortar stores now prefer to buy online. Because of this change and to run their business in the unprecedented times of pandemic, many companies have taken leverage of digitalization and made websites and apps for their potential customers. With the help of online business, you can expand your business outside the borders in no time, no matter if it is the USA or Russia. But you must keep one thing in mind that whatever country you want to penetrate, you must communicate with them in their native language. For instance, if you want to target the Russian market, then you must hire Russian translation services.
Why Prefer Russia for Online Business
As an entrepreneur, you must be wondering, where to start a business. Do you want to start an online business in Russia? To tap into the Russian market, you must translate your website in their mother tongue. Therefore, you must go for Russian translation services. With this translation, you can reach many Russian speakers from around the globe. To your surprise, Russian is the second most used language of the digital world and 6.4% of the content on the web is in this language. Moreover, Russia ranks in 7th place concerning a high number of internet users and approximately,120 million use this language on the global level. Why don’t take leverage from this language to target global audience? For this, you can develop games and apps and go for gaming translation services and app localization services.
Market Insights
The foremost thing the entrepreneur should do to enter a Russian market is to get market insights. In the Russian market, online e-commerce has been on the rise for the last five years. The potential shoppers in Russia take a long time to buy things. This is because they don’t trust delivery options and online payments. According to the study of PWC, millennials are the most common group that shop online. But the Covid-19 has changed the entire dynamic. Now there is a wide range of customers that are using e-commerce sites to buy products and services. Initially, when the pandemic hit the world, no doubt, it has also affected online shopping but with the time when strict lockdown is observed in the country, e-commerce business has enhanced the market growth by 29%. Moreover, changed consumer habits have taken growth up to 44%.
Gaming Industry in Russia
Do you know that Russia is the eleventh largest gaming market in the world? It is expected that the revenue of this industry will exceed up to 2.8 billion U.S. dollars by 2024. PC games are leading the market with a revenue of 49 million U.S. dollars. These games can be played in eSports tournaments, and you will be surprised to know that Russia was the first country to consider gaming competition as a separate discipline. Do you want to release your game in this market? To take leverage of such a lucrative Russian market. You must go for gaming translation services. As people opt to buy products and services that are in their native language. In the same way, people like to download games that are in their native language. With the help of Russian translation services, you can also target the gamers of Ukraine, Kyrgyzstan, Tajikistan, and Belarus.
Sell Popular Items
To cater to the Russian market, you must analyze consumer behavior and check which items are bought more by Russian people. Russian people like to buy products like electronics, gadgets, clothing, and cosmetics. Moreover, Russian people also like to buy shoes and electronic household appliances online.
Sell Luxury Items
The affluent class of Russia likes to buy high-quality and designer products. People living in St Petersburg and Moscow are more quality conscious. This is identified by one of the leading luxury departmental stores, Tsum. Recently, the sale of this store tripled by 30%. Therefore, there is a great potential for e-commerce retailers that want to sell premium goods.
Target Big Cities
No doubt, Covid-19 has expanded the use of e-commerce outside the metro cities but in Russia, most of the digital consumers reside in two big cities, St Petersburg, and Moscow. As a rational entrepreneur, you should give importance to these two cities. The people living in these cities spend more on online shopping than people living in other parts of the country. You can develop an app for potential consumers and go for app localization services so that potential customers can download your app easily and order anything of their choice.
Use Social Media Channels
Russian people are very tech-savvy. They use all forms of modern technology and apps. Therefore showing your presence in this foreign land and making your brand recognizable, you must take the assistance of social media channels. In Russia, with the help of social media channels, you can earn up to 40% of your revenue. Moreover, the companies that have their e-commerce site and apps can enhance their sales by 53.4%. Do you know the most used social media channel in Russia is Vkontakte (VK)? 15% of retailers use this channel to offer their services. The next popular channel is Instagram with 5.9% of users, followed by Odnoklassniki with 3.8% of users.
Using Payment on Delivery
Normally, Russian people don’t trust online payments. They prefer to make payments only on delivery. You will be surprised to know that 80-95% of all online transactions are done only on cash on delivery in Russia. Therefore, while penetrating the Russian market, don’t forget to include user-friendly apps for making payments.
Wrapping Up
The best way to tap into the Russian market is to develop a website and app and translate them into their native language. The more people understand your language the more they prefer to buy your products and services.
