Russian Online Pet Product Market Shows Decline in Early 2023
During January and February of 2023, the volume of pet product purchases on online platforms in Russia fell by a notable 15 percent compared with the same period in 2022. This shift is reported by Kommersant, citing the analysts from the Chek Index service. The trend highlights a cooling of online consumer activity in the pet segment as the year started.
Data from CloudPayments corroborates a downturn in e-commerce for pet goods. For the January–February window, the turnover of items for pets in online stores dropped by 26 percent, the number of transactions fell 10 percent, and the average order value declined by 18 percent, landing at 5.8 thousand rubles. These metrics illustrate a broader retrenchment in digital purchasing for pet care products during the period.
NielsenIQ provides a complementary perspective from physical retail. In the January–February 2023 timeframe, sales of dog food in traditional retail chains declined by 7.9 percent year over year, while cat food showed a modest increase of 1.3 percent. The divergence between dog and cat food categories hints at evolving consumer priorities and households adjusting their pet nutrition spend in the face of market pressures.
Industry commentary from Tatyana Kolchanova, the Managing Director of the Pet Business Association, attributes the reduced expenditure to households stocking up on cat and dog food for future use. The backdrop includes exits by foreign firms and various trade restrictions affecting the local market. The broader supply landscape, including the discipline of feed imports, factors into the spending behavior observed across channels and categories.
In mid to late January, Olga Mikheeva, head of a veterinary clinic within the Veterinary Union, discussed practical approaches to helping street animals while ensuring personal safety. The discussion touches on community-based care strategies and the responsibilities of pet owners and professionals in challenging economic conditions, emphasizing humane and pragmatic responses to animal welfare amid market shifts. [Source: Kommersant, Chek Index, CloudPayments, NielsenIQ, and the Veterinary Union reports]