The global payment platform PayPal and the company Ipsos have published the results of the e-commerce market research. It reflects the behavior of online shoppers from 31 countries of the world, including Russia, their fears, habits, expectations and preferences regarding electronic shopping abroad. It turned out that 36% of Russians who make international purchases online do it more often during seasonal sales, and 28% do not miss out on great deals on Black Friday.

Comments Olga Lonshakova, Business Development Director PayPal in Russia: "Black Friday is one of the most grandiose sales that takes place all over the world and continues to grow. According to our data, sales volumes on this day in 2017 increased by more than 50%, compared with sales on "Black Friday" in 2016. At the same time, the most popular categories of purchases were clothing and accessories, electronics and computer equipment.

According to PayPal, the most popular items on Black Friday 2017 were fashion industry items. The volume of purchases in this category on the day of sales turned out to be almost three times higher than the average daily value for 2017.

The study showed that 80% of adult Internet users in Russia have made online purchases in the last 12 months, while 44% claim that their spending on purchasing goods online will increase next year. Of those who made purchases, 70% did it at least once last year in foreign stores. 14% of online shopping enthusiasts prefer to buy goods exclusively abroad, and more than half (53%) trust foreign stores as well as local ones.

For 56% of Russians who purchase goods online, it does not matter whether the store is located abroad or not, and an even larger percentage of respondents (73%) do not care where the goods will be shipped from if they are satisfied with the price. However, 53% prefer large stores when buying abroad, which is most likely due to the fact that such stores have a localized version: 74 percent of Russians are uncomfortable shopping on foreign websites that do not have a Russian version. 79% of buyers visit foreign websites to buy clothes, 62% buy electronics, 61% buy toys and hobby goods. Russians still make the majority of cross-border purchases from a computer, and more than a quarter (26%) are ready to shop from mobile devices.

When making cross-border purchases, 60% of Russians purchase goods from China, 14% from the USA, 11% from Hong Kong. When buying goods in American stores, Russians primarily explain this by the desire to purchase a high-quality (52%) and authentic (39%) product, while they turn to stores in China and Hong Kong for inexpensive goods (88 and 77%, respectively) and cheap delivery (37 and 29%).

Russian online shoppers are more likely to purchase goods in foreign stores if their cost is lower than in their own country (44%), as well as if it is possible to find goods that are not presented in local stores (39%). 37% of buyers make purchases abroad, because the range of products presented there is wider. Russians who do not make purchases abroad explain this mainly by the fact that they are afraid of not receiving the goods (33%), the difficulty of returning the goods (28%) and fears that the goods they receive will not match the description (24%).

81% of Russians who regularly purchase something online would like to be able to pay for the purchase either in the local currency of the store or in Russian rubles. Among the key factors determining the preferred method of payment for cross-border purchases for Russians are security (41%) and convenience (55%).

Photo: PayPal and Ipsos press service