The consumer boom is over: Ukrainian drone strikes on Wildberries and Ozon mark the end of Russians’ spending spree
By the end of August, Ukrainian drone strikes had knocked out an estimated 20% of the warehouses operated by the Wildberries online retailer. For four years, Russian marketplaces like Wildberries and Ozon had allowed their customers to live almost as if there were no war. A logistics revolution drastically cut costs — keeping prices low and offsetting the damage to consumers caused by…
The era of Russian consumer spending has come to an end, as evidenced by recent drone strikes on prominent e-commerce platforms Wildberries and Ozon. Over the past four years, Russian retail has outperformed the economy as a whole, with retail sales surpassing GDP growth. In 2023-2024, retail turnover surged, outpacing GDP growth by a factor of two and a half. Despite GDP stagnation in 2025, retail sales accelerated once again, growing by 5.4% year-on-year.
This consumer boom can be attributed to two primary factors. First, resources in the Russian economy have been rapidly shifting from entrepreneurs and capital investment to wage earners, leading to an increase in consumer spending. The state has facilitated this process by sacrificing future growth to address the nation's immediate discontent.
Second, the war coincided with the rapid growth of marketplaces and the adoption of new retail technologies, particularly for nonfood products. Online purchases have skyrocketed, and logistics costs have decreased due to increased centralization, encouraging sellers to move out of the underground economy and pay more in taxes while maintaining profitability.
In recent years, labor's share of GDP has risen from 40% to 55%, and retail turnover from online sales has surged from 5% to 17%. The internet has transformed retail globally, with labor-intensive formats spreading widely in medium- to low-income countries like Russia and China. However, Russia's share of online purchases remains significantly lower than China's at approximately 16%, compared to China's 28%.
In the U.S., high labor costs and suburban living have limited online sales growth, with e-commerce accounting for 16-17% of total retail sales.
The dominant players in Russia's e-commerce sector are marketplaces Ozon and Wildberries, which together control 73% of the market, processing 3.8 billion orders — 84% of all parcels received in Russia — during the first half of 2026. These marketplaces have revolutionized distribution and logistics, achieving an inventory turnover rate three times faster than traditional retail.
The online shopping experience has become faster and more convenient, with a hoodie taking only 30-40 days to reach a customer, compared to 100 days for traditional retailers.
Written by urgent.news from The Insider's reporting — not their text. Machine-written — may contain errors; check the original before relying on it.
