Russian online retailer Ozon said that its gross merchandise value (GMV) increased by 188% in the second quarter of its financial year, boosted by the shift to e-commerce as a result of lockdown measures.
The group said that Q2 GMV reached a record RUB 45.8 billon (€510 million) in the period, while GMV in the first half totalled RUB 77.4 billion (€870 million), which is 152% higher than the same period last year.
GMV equates to the total value of orders processed through Ozon coupled with revenue from services to buyers and sellers on the platform.
Increased Numbers
The number of new active buyers using the Ozon platform grew by 84% year-on-year in April and May, with an increased level of repeat custom, the company said.
During the summer, every second order using the platform included FMCG products, indicating that Russian consumers are increasingly purchasing products for everyday use online.
The total number of orders delivered in the second quarter reached 14.6 million, which represented a year-on-year increase of 132%, the company said.
New Habits
“The pandemic not only brought spontaneous shoppers online, but also contributed to shaping new habits among Russian shoppers, who have grown used to making regular purchases via this channel," commented Daniil Fedorov, chief financial officer at Ozon Group.
"Judging by our customers’ behaviour in the second quarter of 2020, people are not going to give up online shopping any time soon. We believe it is clear that the future of online retail belongs to large multi-category players, those that bring together all types of goods on their platform and offer loyalty programmes and other ways for their customers to save.”
Ozon added that a better logistics infrastructure is fuelling its regional growth – the fastest growing cities in terms of second-quarter sales were Novosibirsk (+ 293%), Voronezh (+ 250%) and Krasnodar (+ 235%).
© 2020 European Supermarket Magazine – your source for the latest retail news. Article by Stephen Wynne-Jones. Click subscribe to sign up to ESM: The European Supermarket Magazine
