Retail Category: Retail

iPhone

iPhone sales finally grow – operators accused of overpricing conspiracy

By East-West Digital News, Marchmont News / May 04, 2012

In 2011, the Russian mobile operator and retailer MTS – one of the two exclusive importers of iPhones to Russia – brought in as many iPhones (for $140.8 million) as it had during all the years dating back to the product’s launch in Russia in 2008.

According to the IT and telecom news portal CNews.ru, MTS’s purchases of iPhones amounted to $65.4 million in 2008 and to $79.4 million in 2010 — but to just $3.4 million in 2009, due to the initial commercial failure of the smartphone.

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E-commerce study

Click-and-mortar concepts gain traction among Russian retailers

Part of a Global Perspectives Series on Russian e-commerce offered by East-West Digital News / May 02, 2012

M.Video, a leading consumer electronics retailer, will open a network of outlets in Russian cities of less than 150,000 inhabitants, Telecom Daily reported last week. The limited-surface outlets will extend their restricted on-site assortment through POS electronic terminals that provide local customers with access to the retailer’s full catalog.

The first outlet of this type will open this summer, M.Video’s press service announced, with plans to deploy 35 similar sites across the country by the end of the year. The firm will invest some 35-40 million rubles ($1.2-$1.4 million) for each outlet, compared to 50 million rubles ($1.7 million) for a standard store.

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Lokata

German inspired Lokata.ru helps Russian consumers search online and buy offline

By Adrien Henni, East-West Digital News / Apr 13, 2012 / 1 Comment

Fast Lane Ventures has partnered with Bonial International Group, a German company specializing in location-based shopping information services, to launch Lokata.ru, the first service of this kind in Russia.

Lokata is an online and mobile service providing shoppers with the information needed to make smart shopping decisions prior to them even entering the store.  Users can identify stores nearby using search filters by product category, retailer and even brand.  Users can also view online catalogs, which carry all of products available by participating retailers. When a retailer discounts a product, desired by the user, Lokata alerts them.

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MTS+Samsung

MTS partners with Samsung in mobile retail

Special to East-West Digital News by Oleg Kouzbit in partnership with Marchmont News / Mar 29, 2012

MTS, one of Russia’s largest mobile operators, and Samsung Electronics have shaken hands on a deal to develop retail sales jointly in Russia by the end of the year. The agreement – the first of its kind in Russia with a single manufacturer – calls for the opening of Samsung product stores in Russia’s ten largest cities and aggressive promotion of the Korean brand in 2,000 out of the operator’s 4,150 existing outlets across the country.

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Svyaznoy

Dreaming of an overseas vacation? Need new furniture? Check out phone retailer Svyaznoy

Special to East-West Digital News by Oleg Kouzbit in partnership with Marchmont News / Feb 27, 2012

In a bid to diversify and assert itself on the fast growing Russian e-commerce market, major mobile retailer Svyaznoy is now catering to travelers and selling furniture and jewelry online.

Its most recent project, one the company positions as a ‘travel hypermarket’, Svyaznoy Travel, aims to incorporate both online and offline formats for all travel services, from booking air and train tickets to offering hotel reservation, tours and cruises, car and house rentals.

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Svyaznoy

Svyaznoy seeks alternatives to IPO

By East-West Digital News / Jan 25, 2012

Russia’s second largest mobile device retailer Svyaznoy is considering selling between 20 and 30% of its shares in a private equity deal, Russian business daily Kommersant reported. Maxim Nogotkov, the company’s main shareholder, confirmed that Deutsche Bank and Raiffeisenbank received a mandate to find an investor, but declined to disclose the value of their proposed stake.

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USTR (US Trade Representative)

Vkontakte.ru still blacklisted by US government for piracy

By East-West Digital News / Dec 23, 2011

The Office of the United States Trade Representative has made public a new edition of its Notorious Markets List earlier this week, identifying  “selected markets, including ones on the Internet, that are reportedly engaged in piracy and counterfeiting” across the globe.

Specifically, the blacklist enlarges upon the geographical origin and the dubious commercial nature of marketplaces that “have been the subject of enforcement action or that may merit further investigation for possible intellectual property rights infringements,” says the USTR.

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Svyaznoy

Svyaznoy launches in-house TV network

By Diana Imamgaiazova, East-West Digital News / Dec 20, 2011

Last week, major Russian mobile phone retailer Svyaznoy announced the launch of an in-house TV network. ‘Svyaznoy TV’ offers news, reports, and reviews of the retailer’s products and services as well as entertainment, corporate information, and advertising from Svyaznoy’s partners.

Svyaznoy TV is currently featured in more than 900 stores across Russia, with an expected monthly reach that exceeds 20 million people.

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APIT

Offline e-commerce terminals to be deployed in Russian regions

By Oborot.ru, East-West Digital News / Oct 05, 2011

The Agency for Advanced Information Technologies (APIT), a Russian group of IT consulting and hardware retail companies, has announced its intention to deploy touch screen terminals throughout the country allowing local consumers without an Internet connection to order goods and services from selected Russian e-commerce sites.

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M.Video

Major retailers switching to all digital distribution for software, music and video

By East-West Digital News / Sep 27, 2011

M.Video, a leading Russian consumer electronics retailer, announced last week its intention to switch from physical to digital distribution of its range of software, music and movies. The company believes that it makes less commercial sense to sell software, music and movies ‘in boxes’, when it is easier for consumers to simply download them.

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