Russian Retailers Want Cyber Monday Economic Boost

Russia wants in on the Cyber Monday hype.

According to the report, Russian retailers — including its largest e-commerce site Ulmart — plan to hold a Cyber Monday shopping event sometime next week to help combat the impact of the country’s recession, Bloomberg reported. Fifty companies are said to be participating, said event organizer Akit, the Russian e-commerce lobby group. While there is a shopping lull in the U.S. and U.K. during the post-holiday season, the Russian Cyber Monday comes during a particularly important time based on shopping habits in the country.

“Russians shop actively until the very end of December, then we have a 10-day holiday, and the end of January is the time to give a boost to sales,” said Uliana Vlasenko, a spokeswoman for Akit.

This year, Cyber Monday may be more important for retailers trying to attract new consumers since consumers rushed in buying purchases before 2014 ended due to the weakening ruble and to avoid inflation prices. The ruble fell 32 percent against the dollar in the fourth quarter because of the oil price dip, which is Russia’s major export.

Other retailers participating in the event include children’s goods chain OAO Detsky Mir and Rocket Internet AG’s online fashion vendor Lamoda. Besides Ulmart, consumer-electronics chains M.video and Metro AG’s Media Markt will also be part of the major online shopping event.

If Cyber Monday figures hit anything like they did in the U.S., the push for the retail holiday will be a big benefit for Russian retailers. Cyber Monday sales figures showed a 17-percent jump from last year to nearly $2.04 billion, according to comScore research, which said “[the figures represent] the heaviest online spending day in history and the first to surpass $2 billion in sales.”