The global payment platform PayPal has released a new study of the e-commerce market in Russia, commissioned by the company Ipsos. It was held online in the period from March 13 to May 1, 2018 and was devoted to the study of what goods and to which countries of the world Russian online stores sell.

Previous studies of this issue conducted in 2016, in particular a joint study of PayPal and Data Insight, showed that the volume of the cross-border trade market in Russia reached $2 billion at that time. According to a new study, more than half of online shoppers in the world have made purchases in foreign stores. At the same time, 55% have made such purchases at least once in the last 12 months. About half of these people attributed from 50% to 100% of their own online spending to purchases in foreign stores.

The study was conducted in 31 countries (Australia, Austria, Argentina, Belgium, Brazil, Great Britain, Hungary, Germany, Hong Kong, Greece, Israel, India, Ireland, Spain, Italy, Canada, China, Mexico, Netherlands, Norway, United Arab Emirates, Poland, Russia, Singapore, USA, Philippines, France, Czech Republic, Sweden, South Africa, Japan) based on a sample of 1,000−2,000 adult adults who use Internet-connected devices.

A total of 34,052 people participated in the study, of which 30,698 people made online purchases (at least one purchase) via the Internet using a desktop PC, laptop, smartphone or tablet, including 16,706 people made purchases in foreign online stores.

According to the results of the past year, the United States became the largest market for Russian sellers. This is followed by Germany, Great Britain, Canada, Israel, Australia, France, China, Italy and Ukraine. As for the most popular categories of goods, the most popular among foreign online buyers were items of the Russian fashion industry (this is a wide range of goods, from shoes to wedding dresses). Software, auto parts, tourism, games, books, educational services, craft products/cultural items, electronics and cosmetics were also in demand.

Olga Lonshakova, PayPal Business Development Director in Russia commented on the results of the study:

«We at PayPal clearly see an increase in the volume of international online purchases. So, according to our data, from 2016 to 2018, their growth was 49%. Therefore, if you are the owner of an online store, now is the time to think about how to attract foreign buyers. For our part, we provide a convenient tool for cross-border business development, as well as provide additional security with the help of the Seller Protection Program.