Online sales of clothing outpace other items The B2C E-Commerce market of clothing has surged the past few years according to the yStats.com study. Though sales of clothing and shoes has recently been the third largest product category in B2C E-Commerce in Russia in terms of revenue, following consumer electronics and household appliances, the pace of growth of the apparel category exceeds that of the current leaders. Almost one third of all clothing purchases are conducted online.
Market dominated by few companies
The yStats.com study found that the online apparel and accessories market in Russia is dominated by a handful of companies. Ten online clothing companies account for almost 50% of all clothing B2C E-Commerce sales. The most popular companies for online shoppers are Quelle.ru, Otto.ru and Kupivip.ru, but other companies such as Wildberries.ru, and Laredoute.ru are also benefitting from the growth of sales in the sector. Quelle.ru sells European brands such as NEXT, Esprit, Lascana, s.Oliver, and others. Wildberries.ru has overcome one of the barriers to online clothing shopping by opening a hundred try-on stations in regions of Russia, and processes about 350,000 orders each month.
Investments and mergers in the sector
Recent rapid growth and perceived potential for further expansion of the online apparel sector has attracted large investments from Russian venture capital companies as well as from abroad. Kupivip.ru, a private shopping club, has attracted over 100 million Euros in total investment, and Lamoda.ru, a project of venture capital company Rocket Internet, received substantial funding from such investors as JP Morgan and PPR Holding. Both clothing shops utilized the funding to expand their market presence, opening new online shops and broadening their apparel offerings. Kupivip.ru may be one of the first Russian online shops to conduct an IPO at some time in the future. Several international players in the online clothing market have also established their presence in Russia. Laredoute.ru, a member of the PPR Group, is one of the popular shops. Otto.ru, is one of the fastest growing subsidiaries of the Otto Group. Also, the Otto Group recently acquired Quelle.ru. In another merger and acquisition within the Russian B2C E-Commerce market, Sapato.ru was taken over by Russian E-Commerce giant Ozon.
For further information, see: http://ystats.com/en/reports/preview.php?reportId=1019