The turnover of Tatarstan sellers on marketplaces in 2021 increased fivefold
The turnover of Tatarstan sellers on the five leading marketplaces has increased fivefold in the eight months of 2021 — up to 18.5 billion rubles. Rustem Sibgatullin, First Deputy Minister of Economy of the Republic of Tatarstan, told about this today, September 7, at a briefing on the development of online commerce in the region. In his report, the speaker elaborated on the support measures that encourage Tatarstan manufacturers to enter e-commerce sites.
Rustem Sibgatullin started with statistics. Today, more than a third of the employed population of the republic works for small and medium-sized businesses - 696.000 people, by 2024 this figure in the republic should reach 730.6 thousand people. One of the significant factors of the growth of entrepreneurial activity is the provision of additional markets and sales channels, and today the importance of electronic sales channels is increasing. The development of e-commerce is a global trend and one of the priority areas for the republic.
According to Data Insight, which is the first research agency in Russia specializing in the e-commerce market, in 2020 the share of e-commerce increased from 13 to 18% of all retail trade worldwide. The global volume of online sales increased by 24% and amounted to 4.29 trillion US dollars.
By the end of 2020, Russia entered the TOP 10 countries leading in terms of online sales and demonstrated one of the highest eCom growth rates – 58%. Starting from 2020, e-commerce is actively developing in the Republic of Tatarstan. The growth of sales of goods via the Internet, according to Rosstat, in 2020 at comparable prices amounted to 93%, for the first half of this year almost 40 %.
The number of entrepreneurs selling their products on marketplaces has also significantly increased. According to the data of five leading marketplaces (Wildberries, Ozon, Yandex.Market, KazanExpress and eBay), the number of Tatarstan sellers on these sites for 8 months of 2021 has increased fourfold compared to the end of last year and reached 12.573.
"If by the end of 2020 the share of shipments of goods from Tatarstan was 17% of all shipments to the Volga Federal District and 0.89% in Russia as a whole, then by the end of 8 months of 2021, Tatarstan accounts for 24.8% of all shipments to the Volga Federal District and 2% in the Russian Federation. At the same time, the trade turnover of Tatarstan sellers increased 5 times in the first half of the year and amounted to 18.51 billion rubles," the speaker noted.
At the same time, according to the First Deputy Minister of Economy of the Republic of Tatarstan, entrepreneurs face some difficulties when entering marketplaces, mainly due to the lack of experience in electronic sales.
In turn, the Leadership of the Republic of Tatarstan creates favorable conditions and takes the necessary measures to ensure that e-commerce becomes an integral part of the economy. Thus, by order of the President of the Republic of Tatarstan Rustam Nurgalievich Minnikhanov, to provide comprehensive support to Tatarstan entrepreneurs a working group has been established in the region in charge of this direction, the members of the working group have developed an action plan for the development of electronic commerce in Tatarstan until 2022.
The plan consists of several blocks. The first is the development of the e-commerce infrastructure in the Republic of Tatarstan, which includes measures to expand the geography of product reception points, organize interaction with logistics companies, and provide benefits and measures for the construction of logistics distribution centers.
Another block presented in the plan was the registration, support and consulting of entrepreneurs when entering Internet platforms. Sibgatullin noted that in this block special attention is paid to a set of measures of financial and non-financial support. For entrepreneurs, there are services for placement and promotion on electronic trading platforms, as well as special credit and microfinance products.
The Entrepreneurship Support Fund, subordinate to the Ministry of Economy of the Republic of Tatarstan, within the framework of the national project "Small and Medium-sized entrepreneurship and support for individual entrepreneurial initiative", is already providing assistance to Tatarstan entrepreneurs in entering electronic trading platforms and promoting goods of local producers through electronic channels.
The Ministry of Economy helps businesses and the self-employed in choosing the trading platform that is most suitable for specific products, registering on the platform, and also provides services for creating product cards, preparing photo content and product descriptions, setting up warehouse and inventory management.
In addition to entering marketplaces, the Entrepreneurship Support Fund provides such services as providing a reporting service, with the ability to conduct electronic document management, which is necessary for entrepreneurs to interact with electronic platforms, as well as financing Russian and international certification, which will also be required for the sale of products via the Internet.
In addition, the plan provides for financial support. The Ministry is developing a preferential microloan "ETP" for entrepreneurs who plan to sell through electronic sales channels. The possibility of issuing loans on special terms by commercial banks under the guarantee of the regional Guarantee Fund subordinate to the Ministry of Economy and subsidizing logistics costs is also being considered.
Another block of the Plan was the promotion and popularization of work on e-commerce sites. In 2021-2022, it is planned to hold public events, forums and conferences, including visiting ones on the territory of the municipalities of the republic.
Educational support is also one of the priority blocks of the Plan. For effective work with marketplaces, the Ministry plans to provide a service for improving the skills of employees, including training specialists in a new profession - "account manager". Trainers of the Entrepreneurship Support Fund together with the largest e-commerce platforms conduct educational webinars on the placement and sale of products in the Internet space, this year more than 2000 people took part in them.
Another block of the Action Plan for the development of e-commerce in the Republic of Tatarstan was foreign economic activity. Tatarstan entrepreneurs today have a request to expand cooperation with international electronic platforms and transport and logistics providers.
In this regard, the Export Support Center of the Republic of Tatarstan provides a service for placing entrepreneurs' products on international marketplaces. The Center conducts a scoring of applicants, the result of which is the selection of the optimal site that is most suitable for a particular business, depending on the desired market for the sale of products and the potential for its placement. Scoring makes it possible to increase the efficiency of an entrepreneur's sales in the foreign e-commerce market, to ensure correct forecasting and rational inventory management.
In conclusionRustem Sibgatullin stated that the Ministry of Economy will continue to support Tatarstan entrepreneurs in the development of the e-commerce market. The development plan will be updated taking into account the needs and wishes of representatives of small and medium-sized businesses.