The war virtually stopped e-commerce. Currently, the figures have reached 90% to the pre -war. How did it succeed
Already in May, the volumes began to approach 80%, and in June and July reached 90% compared to pre-war indicators. According to the results of August, we can carefully say that sales statistics on online began to approach this year's indicators. Instead of the annual expected increase by 15-20%, we see the lack of subsidence and exit to this year. What Ukrainians buy online are currently seeing online sales growth by 1-2% every week: since July, growth has been gradually slowed.
The reason is to achieve a certain limit to the recovery of e-commerce and consumption of the population. Further growth is complicated by the impoverishment of citizens, inflation (which in August 2022, according to the National Bank of Ukraine, has accelerated to 23. 8% since the beginning of the year), the occupation of the Russian territories by the Russians. Immediately after the invasion, the demand for portable batteries increased significantly.
This is the expected trend: many have been on the road for a long time, moving to safer regions, someone had limited access to power sources, many returns needed our warriors. Currently, the rating of the categories of goods that Ukrainians most often buy are stable. The top five are still:- clothes and shoes- home products- appliances and electronics- products for beauty and health- tools and autotoviers.
But sales of goods in these categories resumed only 70-85%, compared with the first half of 2021. Instead, Ukrainians began to buy more often than earlier:- zootovaries- products for giving and garden- goods for tourism,- sports goods. These categories have already exceeded last year by 10-25%.
As the portrait of online buyers changed during the war, according to the High Commissioner for the UN Refugees, more than 9 million people went abroad, some of them remained in temporarily occupied territories. But, according to New Mail, the number of Ukrainians who make purchases in Ukrainian online stores have decreased by an average of only 1. 5 million.
First, much of the people who have left outside Ukraine remain clients of Ukrainian e-commerce and They continue to buy in Ukrainian online stores for their relatives, friends who have remained in Ukraine. Secondly, those who have not bought online started doing so. And also those who rarely bought something on the Internet began to do it much more often. There are also two trends in the behavior of online buyers:-Returning high requirements for service during online purchases and delivery.
In March-April, knowing that it was not easy for everyone to reduce their requirements for sellers. They forgive the lack of goods, replace it with a similar, delay of departure. There are no such low expectations at this time. Especially when it comes to the work of stores in Kiev, western and central regions of Ukraine.
Customers are ready to forgive delays or lack of goods in the Kharkiv or Zaporizhzhya store, but require a perfect service when it comes to the capital and relatively "calm" cities. - support of the Ukrainian manufacturer. Both internal and external studies we notice an increase in demand for Ukrainian brands, especially those that support Ukrainian defenders or volunteer activities.
For example, among those who began to choose new brands - 39% did so because of the desire to support the Ukrainian manufacturer. And if we talk about the main factors by which consumers choose brands in general, among the three main factors will be the following: the brand supports the Armed Forces (44%), the brand does not lead business in Russia (21%), supports volunteer activity (21%). Careful forecasts by the end of 2022 1. E-commerce will continue to increase, but at a slow pace.
In the coming weeks, slight growth will continue in the range of +1-2% from a week to a week. First of all, due to the fact that buyers due to changes in seasons will make online order more often. Cooling, the school year - these factors are historically always added by several percent to the growth of the summer months. The return of Ukrainians from abroad will not affect the growth of online sales: about 3 million Ukrainians have already returned home. 2.
As in previous years, online sales are expected in the High Season before New Year's holidays: from mid-November to the end of the year. In the previous years, during this period, the volumes of departures increased by about 50-60% compared to the summer months. This year, the situation is more complicated, but the growth is still 35-40%. Russia's invasion of Ukraine almost completely stopped the online trade in Ukraine after February 24, 2022.