Online retail sales in Russia might increase by around 30% by the year 2025
Slowing Non-Food Retail Market in Russia Amid Economic Challenges
The non-food retail market in Russia, particularly for clothing, footwear, and DIY stores, is experiencing a slowdown in 2025. This trend is a result of broader economic challenges that are affecting the country.
According to recent reports, total retail sales have grown modestly by approximately 1.2–1.9% year-on-year in mid-2025. This growth rate is significantly lower compared to the 10.9% surge in the same period in 2024. The food segment, however, has outpaced non-food sales, indicating a shift towards essential items amid inflation and cautious spending.
Within the retail sector, growth for non-food categories such as clothing and footwear has slowed. Non-food retail growth was 5.1% year-on-year early in 2025, but this figure is decreasing relative to prior years. The scarcity of retail facilities for non-food products outside large cities has boosted online commerce, which continues to grow but at a slowing rate (predicted +21% order growth, +25% monetary growth in 2025).
Key retail networks like Kari, Sportmaster, Your, and Friendship (Druzhba) are facing significant challenges due to the slowing non-food retail market and broader economic contraction. Although specific absolute loss figures for these companies are not available, it is noted that networks like these are expected to incur substantial losses due to weakening consumer demand, inflationary pressures, and reduced credit availability leading to lower economic activity.
The exit or suspension of many foreign companies from Russia’s retail market also indicates a tough business environment nationwide.
In summary, the non-food retail market, including clothing, footwear, and DIY, is showing slowed growth and increased competition, especially from online marketplaces. Retail chains like Kari, Sportmaster, Your, and Friendship are facing predicted losses due to the economic slowdown and reduced consumer spending. No precise loss figures could be found, but the environment indicates continuing financial strain on these networks.
For more detailed financial data on these companies, specialized industry reports or company disclosures would be required, as the publicly available summaries focus more on sectoral trends and overall retail market performance.
Sources: [1] TASS News Agency [2] The Association of Internet Retail Companies [3] Rosstat (Russian Federal Statistics Service) [4] STC (Russian Credit Rating Agency) [5] Reuters News Agency
- Despite the slowdown in the non-food retail market in Russia, the food segment has shown resilience with increased sales, possibly due to inflation and cautious spending by consumers.
- The slowing growth in non-food retail sectors, such as clothing and footwear, has led to significant challenges for key retail networks like Kari, Sportmaster, Your, and Friendship, who are expected to incur substantial losses due to factors including weakening consumer demand, inflationary pressures, and reduced credit availability.
