As coronavirus takes its toll on economies and businesses across the globe, Retail Week brings you regular dispatches from international retailers and experts, who provide their insights into how they are coping with the pandemic. 

In today’s edition, Vyacheslav Ivashchenko, business development director at Russia’s largest online retailer Wildberries, explains how the company is coping with the rapid switch to ecommerce during lockdown.

This article first appeared in issue two of the World Retail Congress report The Retail World 2020: Retailing in a time of crisis.

The self-isolation regime was introduced across most regions of Russia on March 28. According to a government directive, Russians could only leave their homes to go to work – if their presence there is mandatory – to go to the nearest store or pharmacy or to walk their pets.

Today, many Russians spend time at home trying to reduce social contact and are starting to buy goods from online stores more often than they did before.

Under quarantine measures, the social importance of online commerce has significantly increased not only for customers, but also for entrepreneurs, especially small and medium-sized enterprises.

Ecommerce is a reliable channel for the distribution of goods, even in conditions where customers are self-isolating. All Wildberries suppliers have the opportunity to sell their products in the six countries in which we operate – Russia, Poland, Belarus, Kyrgyzstan, Kazakhstan and Armenia.

Russian entrepreneurs are increasingly going online. In March the number of new Wildberries suppliers increased three-fold (growing by 3,000) and in the first half of April jumped five-fold compared with the same period last year. Today 26,000 suppliers successfully co-operate with Wildberries and 15,500 of them are individual entrepreneurs.

 

“The number of Wildberries customers aged 55 years and over has doubled over the past two weeks”

In order to reduce the risk of coronavirus infection, we have introduced additional security measures at our pick-up points and offered our customers a contactless courier delivery service.

The introduction of the ubiquitous self-isolation regime has also changed the preferences of our customers. They have begun to take a more balanced approach to shopping and primarily buy necessities, preferring not to spend money on luxury and expensive goods.

We have also noticed an increase in the number of online purchases among the inhabitants of small Russian cities with a population of about 9,000, as well as the growing interest of older generations in online shopping. The number of Wildberries customers aged 55 years and over has doubled over the past two weeks.

In April, the number of new Wildberries customers has tripled compared with the same period last year, while the popularity of our courier delivery service has also tripled. In order to continue to deliver orders quickly to our customers in an environment of high demand, we have created thousands of new workspaces and significantly increased the pace of recruitment. In recent weeks, Wildberries has recruited 5,400 new employees.

Products in demand

Wildberries research has shown that from March 30 to April 12, our customers began to buy more and more basic goods. Sales of health products jumped 3,530% year on year, sales of food and baby food were up 1,500%, and sales of newborn products increased 175%.

Russians began to cook at home more often because of the closure of cafes and restaurants. Sales of coffee machines during this period surged 930%, cookers were up 345%, steamers 315% and blenders 250%.

To maintain fitness and appearance due to the temporary closure of beauty salons and gyms, Wildberries saw sales increase in the categories of sports equipment for home training and scales (240%), hair clippers (620%), electric razors (330%) and manicure machines (1,040%).

Sharing leisure time with family was also high on the agenda. Sales of puzzles (840%), board games (630%), game sets (315%) and interactive toys (225%) for younger children have all climbed. Our customers have also bought more tools (2,730%) and home-improvement products (500%) as they spend more time in their houses.

“To support our customers, we have completely abolished delivery charges in all of our markets and offered them the option of contactless deliveries to their doorstep”

To reduce the risk of spreading the virus, we have temporarily restricted the fitting of clothing and footwear at our pick-up points. We also only allow one person to be there and we only issue pre-paid orders to avoid handling cash or cards.

Wildberries pick-up points are regularly cleaned with disinfectant, employees wear masks and gloves, and hand sanitisers are installed in the checkout areas. To support our customers, we have also completely abolished delivery charges in all of our markets and offered them the option of contactless deliveries to their doorstep.

After quarantine measures were taken, many enterprises in Russia, especially SMEs, had to suspend their work. In order to help the Russians who were left out of work due to temporary downtime at these businesses, we have created a special online resource to help staff search for jobs.

During the first three weeks of the site’s operation, dozens of companies approached Wildberries with offers of temporary employment and we managed to find work for 5,400 people.

In addition, Wildberries opened more than 4,000 vacancies in 340 regions across the country. We hope that the project will not only support Russians who have lost their income because of coronavirus, but also help dozens of entrepreneurs keep jobs open for their employees.

The Retail World 2020: Retailing in a time of crisis

Issue 02 front cover

Retailers across the globe are facing their greatest-ever challenge as the pandemic grips every country. How are retailers coping and responding to the needs of their customers, communities and the business itself?

Hear from retailers and experts from around the world in the fortnightly report from World Retail Congress, which is available to download in full here.