Strategies of the Russian Companies in the E-Grocery Market

Abstract

The COVID-19 pandemic, as the main, but not the only factor, led to a rapid increase in consumer demand for grocery delivery services ordered via the Internet (e-grocery), as well as in the revenue of Russian companies on the e-grocery market during the period from 2019 to 2021. This article examines in detail main factors of the external and internal environment that influenced the change in the shares of companies on the Russian e-grocery market and provided strategic competitive advantages to leaders in the long-term period. As the result of studying the market situation during the period from 2019 to 2021, it was revealed that over the three years of the development of the e-grocery market in Russia, in each of the period different players were in the lead. Utkonos, X5 Retail Group and Sbermarket occupied from 13% to 19.5% of the total market. Based on data obtained during the market analysis using SV Matrix, the Russian e-grocery has moved from the stage of formation, competition between small players to the stage of maturity and struggle between consolidated alpha-companies. High entry barriers to a mature market require new companies to have sufficient capacity already at the start to secure their positions.