Delivery, prices and staff: experts have identified the main reasons for criticism of the markets

According to the study, in 2023 the number of online mentions of the top 20 Russian online stores increased by 13.5% and reached 345 thousand.

The dynamic is associated with a 25% increase in the number of authors, analysts say. The total number of message views was 442 million (+6% for 2022).

Leaders in mentions among markets

The leading positions in number of mentions (79%) and views (70%) of their messages were occupied by Wildberries, Ozon and AliExpress.

Online stores outside the top three, including large marketplaces, were mentioned much less frequently. The mention shares of “Yandex Market” and “SberMegamarket” (now “Megamarket”) were 2.6% and 1.6%; the total share of message views is only 14%.

Leaders in the eGrocery category

The services of Vkusville, Yandex Shop, Samokat and Sbermarket accounted for only 6% of mentions and 8% of visits in 2023, according to the company’s data.

At the same time, some services show significant growth year after year. For example, the number of mentions of “Scooter” increased by 82% in 2023. The number of mentions of “Sbermarket” – by 42%, “Vkusvilla” – by 11%.

Yandex Shop’s performance worsened, with the service mentioned 2% less often.

Online thematic platforms

The percentage of mentions of thematic online stores decreased from 16% to 11%. “Sima-tierra” (-51%), “Petrovich” (-29%). The smallest decreases were seen in Lamoda (-3%), Vseinstrumenty.ru (-3.5%) and Leroy Merlin (7.5%). The percentage of visits to online stores is 8%.

There will be less negativity in 2023

As the study shows, the share of negativity decreased by just over 2% last year: from 46.7% to 44.4%. However, the trend is not explained by a decrease in the number of negative mentions, but by an increase in neutral messages. The share of positive messages remains at 11.5%.

The experts categorized around 40% of the mentions and identified three main areas:

• Delivery – 20%;
• Prices: 14%;
• Staff: 13.5%;
• Exchange and return – 5%;

At the same time, the “personal” category accounts for the largest share of negative reviews – 81%. The topics of exchange and return, support service, guarantees and repairs, as well as delivery, however, occupy only 5% of the total mentions, of which 64% of the messages are colored negatively.

However, in the areas of “prices”, “discounts”, “selection”, “ecology” and “parking” the negativity is significantly lower than average.

Mention platforms

The two key sources for the number of messages within our sample in 2023 were VKontakte and Telegram – 56% and 17%, respectively. VKontakte’s share decreased due to Telegram’s growth from 10.5% to 17% – the number of messages on Messenger increased by 92% over the year. The number of messages on YouTube, Odnoklassniki, and Instagram* decreased by 58%, 17%, and 15%, respectively.

At the same time, Instagram* leads in the number of message views – 53%; Telegram is in second place – 31%. The share of mention views on VKontakte is only 8%, of which 96% occurred in the fourth quarter. The company analyzed the 20 largest online stores according to Data Insight for 2021 (available at the time).

*belongs to Meta, which is recognized as extremist in Russia and is banned