In the recent times, the Russian clothing industry has witnessed drastic changes due to the steady drop in Ruble. One such change is ‘market shift’ to countries in Southeast Asia, primarily China and India.
Russian apparel manufacturers, such as Sportmaster, a retailer of sportswear and fitness gear, have steadily started to expand in the Asian markets, as according to Sergey Agibalov, Sportmaster Group’s Business Manager, the company considered China as a potential growing market, accounting to fewer entry barriers in the country as compared to other Asian countries.
The clothing firms are also keen on exploring the digital ways of entering the Asian market… One of the Russian retail brands – SELA has partnered with e-commerce platforms like Amazon and Myntra, to sell their collections online and operate in the mid-market categories Also, the recently launched e-commerce portal, TataCliq is a partnership between Concept Group and Tata Group, with the purpose of selling ‘Made in Russia’ clothes in the Indian market.
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The reason for this ‘market shift’ can be attributed to the weakening of Ruble as well as the projection by PricewaterhouseCoopers’ 2015-16 Outlook, which suggests that by 2018, consumer expenditure on clothing and footwear in Asia is expected to reach almost US $ 920 billion compared to an estimated US $ 625 billion in 2014.
