The Moscow City News Agency has published the findings of a study conducted by the Gaidar Institute’s Quantitative Analysis of Economic Effects Department, according to which the growth of marketplaces in Russia does not destroy traditional retail but rather stimulates the opening of new stores.
According to a report available to the agency, the appearance of one additional order outlets per thousand residents is associated with an increase in the number of offline stores by 0.88 units relative to the average level. Experts note that this indicates the predominance of the sales channel interaction effect over the displacement effect.
One of the study’s authors, Alexandra Savina, explained that the reduction in transaction costs (time and effort spent searching for goods) stimulates additional demand: people begin making purchases they had previously postponed, which ultimately supports overall retail turnover.
Researchers estimate that by the end of 2025, there will be more than 237,000 outlets in Russia, of which over 171,000 will be associated with marketplaces. In 2025 alone, their number increased by more than 30%. At the same time, the impact of these new locations varies by region: in large cities with saturated markets, the effect is weaker, whereas in areas with less developed infrastructure, it is significantly greater. There, outlets become hubs for consumers and integral parts of the local economy.
As noted by Natalia Antonenko, marketplaces do not destroy local commerce but rather integrate into it, creating additional growth points. The study emphasizes that the digitalization of retail is transforming traditional formats into a hybrid, mutually complementary model that can serve as the foundation for the sustainable development of local markets.