During the COVID-19 pandemic, soft discount retail chain Pyaterochka (part of the market leader X5 group) became the most demanded brand of consumers in Russia. Based on research data from BCG and "Romir" "Russian consumers - a new reality".
The new reality affected up to 30% of the consumer spending market and pushes brands to find new sales niches with a focus on the development of online channels, delivery and remote services. This is the general conclusion of an joint research between BCG and the research holding "Romir". It was executed by 1,500 respondents from different socio-demographic groups and in-depth qualitative research in Moscow. The sample represents the urban population of complete Russia and analyzes data on consumer spending in 40+ product categories.
“Some brands have been able to secure strong customer support in this situation. Thus, the discounter Pyaterochka turned out to be the most favorite brand in the quarantine period, Sberbank took the second line, YouTube - the third, grocery retail chain Magnit and VKontakte, respectively fourth and fifth. Reflecting consumer preferences in various areas, from routine purchases of products and banking services to online content, said Ivan Kotov, BCG Managing Director and Partner, Head of Expert Practice for Consumer Products and Retail in Russia and CIS.
In general, we see an increase in trends that were manifested before the pandemic: an increase in the spread of e-commerce and digital technologies (~ 40% of respondents plan to spend more in e-commerce channels), an increase in demand for goods, related to health and personal care (10% of respondents are going to spend more on these goods), the desire to buy at a low price and the hunt for great deals (~ 59% of respondents feel financially insecure), changing offline experience and accelerating automation (30-40 % of consumers will spend less in malls and shopping centers). All these trends have serious potential to gain a foothold and maintain their influence after the pandemic. "
According to consumers, categories such as "Travel" and "Entertainment" still carry a high risk of contracting the virus, although anxiety levels are decreasing. In general, the proportion of those who assess these activities as associated with the risk of infection, compared with April, decreased by 16% for the category "Travel", 18% for the "Entertainment" and 15% for the "Restaurants".
In almost all categories of spending, economists have seen positive changes. The survey results show that the fastest recovery in spending will be in categories such as food, clothing and footwear.
“E-commerce received a huge boost in development during the pandemic ,… today 66% of respondents say they plan to maintain the current level of online consumption. All of this clearly demonstrates the significantly increased popularity of various forms of digital communication channels. The beginning of the “second wave” will consolidate the emerging new habits and force the majority of companies to reconsider approaches to the management of purchasing paths,” said Maxim Bakhtin, partner at BCG.
Click here for more: https://www.retail.ru/news/pyaterochka-vozglavila-reyting-samykh-lyubimykh-brendov-rossiyan-v-lokdaun-13-oktyabrya-2020-198610/
