The Russians bought expensive equipment of little-known brands for the New Year

Russians earlier than usual began to buy goods before the New Year with the expectation of discounts and the desire to avoid problems with delivery. In the first two weeks of December, preferences were given to expensive models of equipment,

In the first two weeks of December, household appliances, as well as smartphones of mid-price and niche brands, were in the greatest demand among Russians, but buyers chose the most expensive models in these categories. This follows from the data of equipment sellers and large marketplaces surveyed by RBC. In the same period last year, the category of home appliances was less popular, and gifts before the New Year were bought a few weeks later.

What do they buy

According to M.Video-Eldorado, this year, compared to 2021, household appliances have become in great demand, while smartphones remain the sales leader. According to M.Video-Eldorado analysts, from mid-November to December 14, Chinese brands — Realme, Tecno, Vivo — as well as APPLE, which left the Russian market, strengthened their positions in smartphone sales. In household appliances, the Chinese Haier, Turkish Beko, Slovenian Gorenje, Italian Candy, Chinese Midea, Uzbek Artel are in the top, German brand Grundig showed “significant growth” in embedded appliances, and Japanese Toshiba, Chinese Hisense and Haier in TVs. At the same time, this year, Russians have begun to make purchases in offline stores more often, preferring to consult with experts and take a more careful approach to the choice of equipment, in particular large-sized,

Retailers named the most popular categories of smartphones among buyers Technology and media

Computers and components, mobile devices and consumables (cartridges, toners, inks, etc.) became the most popular category in Citilink in the first two weeks of December. Last year, the top three also included small household appliances. This December's popular categories also include manipulators and input devices (computer mice, keyboards, etc.), networking equipment, and digital home appliances. Citilink marketing DIRECTOR Alexander Dedov says that the company does not see "serious" changes in consumer demand, but noted that people began to choose more budgetary goods more often and pay more attention to promotions and sales. “Many people begin to buy gifts for the New Year already in the middle or end of November, during the period of global sales. But this trend has not existed for the first time. Now we also have a lot of pre-New Year promotions, and buyers often choose gifts from the goods participating in them, ”said Dedov. On Ozon, the top products from December 1 to 14 this year were F9 wireless headphones, Yandex.Station smart speaker, Kojima smart LED light bulb, Kingston SSD and Xiaomi Redmi 9A smartphone. Last year, users most often ordered the Xiaomi Mi Smart Band 6 fitness bracelet, second-generation AirPods wireless headphones, F9 wireless headphones, a smart bulb from Yandex, and Xiaomi Airdots 2 wireless headphones. According to MegaFon Sales Director David Borzilova, sales in their retail network in early December increased by 20% in physical terms compared to the same period last year. “Over the year, the list of popular products has not changed: customers purchase smartphones, smart watches and fitness trackers. If last year the leaders in the top 5 popular smartphones were various iPhone models, this year buyers choose iPhone 12, 13, as well as devices from Tecno and Realme brands,” Borzilov said.

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In contrast, an MTS spokesperson says that from December 1 to December 7 (latest available data), the number of mobile devices sold fell by 17% compared to last year. The most purchased smartphones were Xiaomi and its subsidiary brand Poco with a share of 23.7%, Chinese Realme (12.6%) and Tecno (12.5%), Korean Samsung (11.4%), and Apple (8.4%). %). Last year in the same week, the top looked different: Samsung (30.1%), Xiaomi and Poco (24%), Apple (11.6%), Realme (5%) and Chinese ZTE (2%). Among the best-selling smartphones in early December of this year in the MTS network were: Tecno Spark 8С, Xiaomi Redmi 9A, Realme C30 32, etc. According to the representative of Wildberries, from December 1 to December 14 this year, wearable gadgets and household appliances, while last year it was phone cases, protective glasses, headphones, cables, pulse oximeters, trimmers, smartphones, etc. In Yandex.Market this year, smart speakers, headphones and other accessories, mobile phones, household appliances for preparing food and drinks, cleaning equipment, etc. were in the greatest demand The same categories, with the exception of "smart" speakers, were in the top 5 most purchased products last year as well. Read on RBC Pro Top managers are leaving:

How to prepare for the New Year

The conclusion that this year, buyers began preparing for the New Year holidays earlier was also cited in the December report of the Central Bank "Regional Economy" (available from RBC). As the reason, they indicated the increase in terms and possible interruptions in the delivery of goods from CHINA , as well as the desire of buyers to save on sales. The Central Bank noted a decrease in consumer activity in Moscow, and a deeper one than in Central RUSSIA, which was associated with a decrease in effective demand due to relocation and loss of income by employees who worked for foreign companies that left Russia.

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Among other trends, analysts of the Central Bank called:

establishing import deliveries and expanding the range of brands from Asian countries and the CIS; an increase in the results of nine months compared to the same period last year in the share of sales of household appliances under Russian brands and brands from the CIS by one and a half to two times; increasing the volume of electrical equipment production by Moscow manufacturers by more than a third; a slowdown in price growth for durable goods, including household appliances and computers.

What happened to technology

After the start of a special military operation in Ukraine, a number of foreign manufacturers of equipment suspended the supply of their products to Russia, and some announced that they were completely leaving the domestic market. Against this background, and also due to the increase in the DOLLAR at the end of February, the prices for equipment rose sharply. RBC monitoring showed that by March 9, the cost of iPhone Pro Max and Samsung Galaxy A12 smartphones in the Eldorado network increased by 27.3% compared to the figure on February 28, and by March 29 - by 36.4%. Retailers expected that stocks of equipment of foreign brands, which announced the suspension of work in Russia, would be enough for two to three months. In March, hardware stores recorded an increased demand for Russian and Belarusian household appliances. According to M.Video-Eldorado,

Russian stores stocked up on PlayStation 5 in the absence of supplies from Sony Technology and media

In early June, retailers reported a reduction in the range of equipment and electronics due to the announcement of some foreign companies about the curtailment of business in Russia and logistical difficulties in the supply of components. Already at the end of July, some popular Samsung smartphone models became unavailable in the regions or could only be purchased with delivery in a few days. Experts explained this by the fact that the so-called parallel import (import of products without the permission of the copyright holder) did not work in full force. The list of products allowed for import under this scheme was published by the Ministry of Industry and Trade in early May. After a protracted shortage of supplies, in mid-September, Russian retailers recorded an increase in stocks of PlayStation 5 game consoles in warehouses.