Trucks filled with Coca Cola packages, cross the border into Russia, while tourists return from trips with suitcases loaded with Zara for the latest clothes, and online shopping sites are selling out of IKEA stock, the agency writes Reuters.
Western brands have left Russia, but their goods have not. Despite the fact that European, North American and Japanese companies left the Russian market when it started the war in Ukraine, the impact on consumers is minimal. The main changes are the delivery routes, but the products are still available both in stores and online shopping sites. Buyers just need to know where to look.
Importantly, most of these products are not subject to sanctions and the flow of goods across the border is completely legal. Moscow is happy to let in the goods of the West, and it does not matter which way they came.
The fact that goods still end up in Russia shows how difficult it is for companies to control supply chains after leaving the market.
Zara the owner Inditex closed all 502 stores in Russia after Moscow’s invasion of Ukraine, and sold them Daher Group United Arab Emirates.
However, consumers are not left without brands. Albina from Russia went to Minsk with an empty suitcase and returned after 24 hours with clothes for herself and her friends worth 442 dollars from Inditex owned brands Zara and Massimo Dutti. Most of the brands that stopped operating in Russia also left the Belarusian market, but not Inditex. The company had no comment. Albina on the other hand Reuters said that she has also brought clothes from Paris and Dubai, and also buys them on the Internet: «Instagram and Telegram there are pages, I also know girls who have moved to Europe, Istanbul or Dubai. They collect orders in Istanbul, for example, and keep a 15-30% commission, send the clothes here and have to pay for the delivery.»
As supply chains collapsed, Russia legalized so-called parallel imports, which allow traders to import products from abroad without the permission of trademark owners.
E-commerce sites sell a wide variety of imported products, and merchants often openly advertise that the goods are imported from foreign countries.
Market leader in Russia, Wildberries, trade the previous season Inditex clothes of group companies, and Zara almost 17 thousand products can be found in the catalog alone. Inditex a close source informed that these are sales stocks that remained in Russia after the company left. Wildberries did not answer questions.
What a ubiquitous western product that sells both Wildberries, both Ozone and Yandex Market, and Coca Cola, which is often advertised as an import so buyers know it is genuine. Coca Cola almost a year ago, they stopped producing and selling drinks in Russia, but the products are imported from other countries. The labels show that the drinks are imported from Europe, Kazakhstan, Uzbekistan and China. Interestingly, the prices vary. Three in a Moscow supermarket Coca Cola cans can be bought at three different prices and imported from Denmark, Poland and Great Britain. A representative of the wholesaler, who wished to remain anonymous, said that
simply, contracts were changed, supply chains were reshaped, and cash flow was rearranged.
Digital platforms Publican Director Ram Ben Tzion stated that despite all the inefficient trade flow, such products entering Russia are here to stay. He said: “Parallel import mechanisms have been improved and expanded, which means that almost everything is now available, and it will remain so in the future.” Benzion added: «Coca Cola it is easy to see a sharp increase in demand in Russia’s neighboring countries, which are the usual places from which goods enter Russia. It’s in their interest to pretend they don’t see it.” Coca Cola no comments were made. The trade data of the “friendly” countries show that they have visibly increased their imports to Russia. Russia, on the other hand, has stopped publishing such information.
In the Russian market, the volume of aftermarket products of popular brands has also increased. While there may be opportunities for local companies to expand, the obsession with western brands will hamper efforts to promote local production. Bencion said: “Over time, market players will continue to offer products that Russians are used to, and although there is a desire to switch to products made in Russia, it will be very difficult to really attract consumers to cola made in Russia.”
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