Russia's C2C e-commerce market is quietly rising, with a market size of over 85 billion yuan

According to the study, Russia's C2C e-commerce transaction market grew by 87% in 2020, exceeding 1 trillion rubles (about 87.1 billion yuan), and transaction volume increased by 70%, exceeding 300 million pieces.

Among them, the share of sellers in the resale second-hand market segment increased 1.5 times from 8% in 2017 to 12% in 2020. The number of sellers and buyers in other segments is also continuing to increase.

There are 13.2 million sellers in Russia's C2C market, and more than 60% of them are male

Data shows that in 2020, the number of sellers and buyers in the Russian C2C market was 13.2 million and 13.3 million, respectively. At the same time, the number of transactions per seller per month has increased. In 2017, sellers had an average of 1 transaction per month, 1.3 in 2019, and 2.3 in 2020.

Over the past year and a half, the share of sellers who use C2C sales as their main or important source of income has almost doubled, from 6% in the spring of 2019 to 11% in November 2020. However, for most sellers (76%), such sales are still insignificant and unstable income, and some do not consider it as a source of income.

In terms of gender distribution of sellers, the proportion of male sellers in the C2C market rose to 63% in 2020, while that of female sellers was 37%. Experts believe that the increase in the number of male sellers is partly due to the impact of the epidemic, and the decline in male employment rates has forced them to find other sources of income. In terms of age distribution, the number of sellers aged 35-44 has also increased. The average age of sellers has increased by 5 years compared to 2019, reaching 39 years old.

Resale items such as appliances, electronics and computers are the most popular

As mentioned above, the share of sellers in the resale market has reached 12%. Among the resale products provided by individual sellers, the most popular ones are home appliances, electronic products and computers, accounting for 24% of the total sales. Clothing and footwear and children's products follow closely behind, accounting for 18% and 17% respectively.

In the past six months, 85% of buyers purchased new products on the platform, accounting for 15% of the total C2C transaction volume. Among them, beauty and health products and accessories are the most popular.

Logistics development drives C2C transactions between different parts of Russia

The share of individual sellers selling to their own city has fallen from 72% to 53% since 2017. On the other hand, the share of sellers across Russia has risen from 7% in 2017 to 16% in 2020. These data show that C2C transactions between Russian regions are growing actively, mainly due to the emergence of professional logistics.

Avito 's data also confirms this point. Alexey Kurakin, general manager of Avtio, said: "Currently, goods traded on Avito can be delivered to 1,100 cities and 21,000 locations in Russia, and this number is constantly expanding."

Advertising services become the main sales channel in Russia's C2C market

Advertising services remain the favorite sales channel for Russians. In 2020, 87% of sellers and 88% of buyers on the C2C market sold or purchased goods through advertising services.

Avtio is a leader in the Russian C2C market. Last year, the transaction volume on the Avito platform reached 182 million. So far, it has 8.8 million users.

Fyodor Virin, an expert at Data Insight , said: "C2C e-commerce transactions have become an independent large market with its own rules, participants and consumption trends. Compared with B2C, C2C has its own characteristics. In C2C transactions, the consumption motivation is not only because of low prices, but also the opportunity to buy unique goods and the opportunity to find things that are not available in offline stores."

Russia

C2C