In August, entrepreneur Alexander Gorbunov opened a Panika store in Krasnoyarsk, where Zara clothing imported through parallel imports is sold. The owner of this brand, the Spanish holding Inditex, suspended work in Russia at the very beginning of March. Gorbunov told local media that he simply decided to please his girlfriend: “She once said that she wanted Zara to return. I answered: let me return Zara to you.” To begin with, I ordered a small batch worth about 2 million rubles through my acquaintance in Kazakhstan, but the next deliveries are expected from Turkey – it turned out to be more profitable to buy there. Ideally, Gorbunov would like to turn the new point into a multi-brand store, where other brands that have left Russia will be presented. But if there is no active demand in the store, in a year the businessman will close it.
The entrepreneur just decided to please his girlfriend: she wanted Zara to return
“The borders between China and Kazakhstan seem to no longer exist – bring whatever you want”
The government allowed the import of foreign-made products into Russia without the consent of the copyright holders at the end of March, and on May 6, the Ministry of Industry and Trade approved a list of goods that can be supplied by a roundabout way. Today it has more than 50 categories – both industrial equipment and materials, and consumer goods, including cars, gadgets, clothes and shoes, toys, cosmetics and much more (drugs and food are not included in the list). Over the past months, almost $6.5 billion worth of products have been imported to Russia under this scheme, the head of the Ministry of Industry and Trade, Manturov, recently reported .
From a legal point of view, the legalization of parallel imports is related to the principle of exhaustion of the exclusive right to a trademark: the right holder loses the ability to control the distribution of his product after its first sale, explains an intellectual property lawyer:
“Now resellers can buy original branded goods in third countries and sell them in Russia without the consent of the manufacturer, and this will be legal. Previously, such actions entailed liability to the copyright holder.
Dmitry, an entrepreneur from Guangzhou, who is engaged in parallel deliveries to Russia, in a conversation with The Insider noted that now those who want to buy goods in China have gone to open "gasket firms" in Kazakhstan and Kyrgyzstan. Goods are issued to these companies, payment is made through them:
“For example, we contact Lenovo in China to purchase a certain batch of their product. They ask what we are going to do with this product. “We will export ourselves to Kyrgyzstan, where there is no your representative office.” “Okay, no problem.” Then I accept money for my Chinese company, Lenovo ships the goods to me, and I go further to Kyrgyzstan. Customs clearance and all logistics in Kyrgyzstan will be handled by the company of the Russian client. It turns out such a chain: the customer, who is in Russia, transfers the payment to the Kyrgyz company, she pays me, and I pay Lenovo in China.”
According to Dmitry, if a few years ago the goods sent from Guangzhou reached Moscow in an average of 30-45 days, now the delivery time has been reduced significantly.
“Two weeks ago we sent 15-20 cubic meters of equipment through Kazakhstan, and yesterday it was already in Moscow. It seems that after the logistical collapse that happened during the pandemic, the customs officers simply opened the gate, and the trucks are running in huge numbers every day. It’s as if the border between China and Kazakhstan no longer exists – bring whatever you want.”
The Insider sources know that immediately after the legalization of parallel imports, deliveries of Siemens equipment were organized through Kazakhstan. In large volumes, network equipment for Russian state and near-state companies is imported through unofficial channels.
Immediately after the legalization of parallel imports, deliveries of Siemens equipment were organized through Kazakhstan
In addition to the countries of the Eurasian Economic Union (Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, Armenia, Belarus), intermediaries can also be located in other regions where restrictions do not apply, for example, in Turkey. So, some Russian sellers are already cooperating with large Turkish wholesalers, whose function is to “buy for themselves” goods in Europe. The question is how carefully Western manufacturers will control the sale of their products in foreign markets, another source of The Insider, a well-known entrepreneur who is now engaged in business consulting, notes:
“I don't think the Asian manufacturers will look at it too much, they don't care. Italian, French and German, too, are likely to turn a blind eye to such things. But the Americans will be watching closely. For example, Apple is able to control the supply of its technology literally to the unit. It is possible that some twelfth package of sanctions will oblige her to block devices on the territory of Russia.
Apple is able to control the supply of its equipment literally to the unit
Little, bad and no guarantee
It is impossible to completely replace direct imports with parallel ones: the Russian market is too large. The export of large world companies is subject to quotas – each country can get at its disposal only a certain amount of products. “Russian business will not be able to scoop these goods from neighboring countries, because their markets are much smaller than ours, and the assortment is more modest,” explains one of the interviewed experts.
“The same Apple, for example, is simply nowhere to take. I assume that Apple's sales volume in the re:Store or M.Video network is greater than the total turnover of this brand in many countries of the world. The situation is similar with Zara. In terms of the number of branded stores of the popular Spanish brand, Russia was in the top five countries. At the same time, Zara's business model assumes that the assortment of its stores is updated every two weeks. It is obviously beyond the power of parallel importers to ensure the same volume of purchases and variety of goods”.
At the same time, there are no guarantees that the logistics channel that worked once can be reused – for the next batch of goods, the route will most likely have to be laid again. A Russian retailer can accidentally find a free stock of goods even in Europe and organize its delivery through intermediaries, but this will be a one-time opportunity. According to entrepreneurs, it is impossible to establish reliable and uninterrupted supplies in conditions of complete uncertainty.
It is impossible to establish reliable and uninterrupted supplies in conditions of complete uncertainty
There are other risks as well. Unlike authorized distributors, new partners are unlikely to conscientiously comply with the requirements for the transportation and storage of goods, as a result, damage from a broken and broken one can “eat up” a large part of the profit. And most importantly, by contacting "gray" suppliers, Russian companies can forever lose the trust of brand owners. “If Inventive Retail Group <operates the re:Store network. “The Insider> will start illegally selling iPhones, Apple will never resume deliveries to it,” the head of one of the leading Russian analytical agencies told The Insider in early summer. Later it became known that iPhones and MacBooks imported from third countries had already appeared in the stores of the network. Tikhon Smykov, General Director of Inventive Retail Group, answered the question briefly: “There is external pressure, and parallel imports are a mechanism to counteract this pressure.”
The end consumer will also face problems when buying imported "gray" products. Due to the lengthening of supply chains, prices will rise, under the guise of parallel deliveries, counterfeit goods will flood into stores, and an official guarantee from the manufacturer will not be attached to the product.
Used iPhones vs Xiaomi with warranty
In addition to re:Store, other sellers of consumer electronics have also tested new supply chains: M.Video-Eldorado, Svyaznoy, DNS, Ozon and Wildberries marketplaces. “They bring a little, but this is a temporary solution. I do not believe that even 10% of the volumes sold in the Russian Federation can be smuggled in this way, ”says Leonid (name changed), an employee of a large company selling electronics. In an interview with The Insider, he said that he knows about the purchase of Apple products through Hong Kong and the supply of Samsung smartphones intended for the Kazakhstan market:
“At the same time, some “Samsungs” had problems with activation. If you immediately insert a Russian SIM card, they are blocked. You have to take the product to the official service center, pay 5 thousand rubles and wait about a month.”
Rozetked Editor-in-Chief Danil Garashchenko adds that the recently bought MacBook Pro and MacBook Air on the M2 chip were brought from the UAE. According to his observations, in recent months, prices are close to stabilizing, but for some positions they still increased: for example, for the MacBook Air 16/512 GB, the price range is very large – from 160 to 223 thousand rubles.
Now, according to Kommersant, shipments of equipment from the EAEU countries are due to excess stocks, and market participants fear that with the start of seasonal demand before the new academic year, local sellers will refuse to supply Russian companies. Intermediaries from third countries raise prices for partners from Russia, as a result of which “it makes no sense to bring individual brands or products, since the price in the Russian Federation becomes virtually prohibitive for purchase.”
Now shipments of equipment from the EAEU countries are due to excess stocks
Due to the extremely meager volumes of parallel imports, Russian retailers are running out of stocks of Apple and Samsung smartphones. It is known that since the beginning of the year, supplies of American and Korean brands have decreased by almost 90%, and their combined share in sales by the end of the year may shrink to 10%. Against this background, smartphones from Chinese manufacturers are showing rapid growth. Thus, the Realme brand surpassed Apple and Samsung in terms of sales (in unit terms), coming in second place in July with a 17% market share, follows from the MTS report. Fourth place (after Samsung) was occupied by other, less well-known "Chinese" – the company Transsion with the Tecno brand, which was previously sold at second-tier retailers or online. Well, Xiaomi sold the most devices last month, whose share, together with the Poco sub-brand, increased to 42%.
“I specifically clarified: the channel through which Xiaomi supplies to Russia is carried out remained the same: the shipping point is Hong Kong,” says an independent expert in the IT and telecom market, who wished to remain anonymous.
“At the same time, phones are provided with a guarantee from Xiaomi. Now let's imagine: you come, for example, to the MTS salon, and there Samsung is conditionally put up on the shelf for 30-40 thousand rubles and next to it is Xiaomi for 20 thousand rubles. It is completely incomprehensible that Samsung has a guarantee, you buy it at your own peril and risk, but Xiaomi has an official guarantee. The choice of a normal person is to buy Xiaomi.”
According to the analyst, if parallel imports do not justify themselves, Russian consumers will not be left without phones: it’s just that if they used to buy Apple, Samsung and Xiaomi, now they will buy Xiaomi, Realme and Tecno. And the mass consumer will most likely purchase iPhones on Avito as second-hand.
If parallel imports do not justify themselves, Russian consumers will not be left without phones
Some companies are trying to expand their range not only at the expense of Chinese products. For example, the M.Video-Eldorado network offers its customers the so-called "refurbish" (from the English. refurbished) – restored or used "iPhones" that have been repaired and brought to marketable condition before resale. According to Leonid from the electronics company, it used to be a marginal business.
“This was done by small entrepreneurs who traded, for example, on Yandex.Market. And now solid uncles are engaged in such nonsense. I'm not sure they can make money from it."
There has always been a “gray” import of electronic equipment – just remember 2008, when the first “iPhones” began to be brought from America and many in Russia made money on their jailbreak and unlocking, The Insider’s interlocutors say. They believe that a similar surge of entrepreneurial initiative is possible under the new conditions: "small businessmen will dodge as much as they can."
Dmitry from Guangzhou tells how he once sent shipments of iPhones to Moscow through Aeroflot stewardesses who flew to Hong Kong – they brought two or three suitcases of contraband with them, and at Sheremetyevo Airport they handed them over to the “receiving party”. Shipping rates ranged from $15 to $50 per phone.
“I was familiar with the flight attendants and entered into any hotel. My phone number was simply passed on to each other, they called me with the question “Do you have cargo?”
Clothing: sale of leftovers, fakes and concern for reputation
After the start of the war in Ukraine, dozens of foreign brands of clothing and footwear announced the suspension or termination of activities in Russia. Among them are the Spanish concern Inditex (Zara, Massimo Dutti, Pull & Bear, Bershka, Stradivarius, Oysho), the Swedish Hennes & Mauritz (H&M, COS, Monki, & Other Stories, Arket) and the French LVMH (Christian Dior, Fendi, Louis Vuitton). ), as well as Mango, Nike, Chanel, Burberry, Jacquemus and others. The supply of luxury brands to Russia is also hindered by official Western sanctions. The US Department of Commerce imposed a ban on the export to Russia of luxury goods (including clothing and shoes) worth more than $1,000 per item; in the European Union, these restrictions apply to products with a purchase price of more than 300 euros per unit.
“Cheaperer goods do not have formal obstacles for purchases and for direct import into the Russian Federation. There are no legitimate restrictive barriers to direct wholesale sales to Russian buyers. But other problems may arise – with payment services or logistics," explains Anna Lebsak-Kleymans, CEO of Fashion Consulting Group.
The retailers that The Insider spoke to are hesitant to supply goods through unofficial channels, counting on the resumption of cooperation with foreign partners. Some are refocusing on local and Asian manufacturers.
“It is important for us to maintain good relationships with brands and their representatives, which have been built over the years. Therefore, we have focused on niche independent brands, we are working with new brands from Korea and China,” they say in the KM20 concept store.
Leform founder Rodion Mamontov confirms that for serious market participants, circumventing restrictions without the consent of partners can interfere with “green interaction” in the future: “This is a big risk. But we are lucky, we work directly without such a need.”
Lamoda representatives replied that they were monitoring the situation, and also emphasized that the marketplace strategy has always been to work directly with brands or with official distributors.
Reputational risks are not the only thing that keeps big players from using the new scheme. Purchases from the "free warehouse" are possible only in small volumes, which cannot fully cover the resulting deficit. The fact is that all deliveries of brands to large retailers or their representative offices take place on pre-order; if there are no official orders, then the goods are not produced, explains Olga Shteinberg, the author of the Telegram channel and the podcast "Fashion-pumping":
“Even monobrands have buyers who make purchases taking into account the specifics of the demand of the region in which they operate. Not all companies have a so-called free warehouse – it is simply unprofitable to produce goods for the future. Brands Inditex, H&M, Uniqlo produce collections exclusively for their own retail space. No space – no clothes are produced.
While fashion brands one after another closed their branded stores in Russia, the goods of some of them appeared on Russian marketplaces. We are talking about either the remnants of previously imported parties, or small deliveries within the framework of semi-official, behind-the-scenes agreements, Olga Steinberg specifies. There is information that some brands are indeed planning to sell their leftovers at Lamoda and are considering options for further cooperation. So, you can still find Massimo Dutti or well-known sports brands here. Wildberries have a much worse reputation, there are initially a lot of fakes sold under well-known labels, the expert continues:
“Take, for example, Converse sneakers (officially left the Russian market in July) – for the price it is clear that this is not the original. It is impossible to buy an original pair of shoes of this brand for 2300 rubles even at a sale, their full price is 14-15 thousand rubles. And Wildberries have them, and a lot. The original can still be found in the multi-brands that have always sold them. For them, to import a fake means to kill the reputation among their audience, and they are unlikely to go for it.
A suspiciously low price may indeed indicate that the product is not original or produced "behind the back" of the copyright holder, confirms Anna Lebsak-Kleymans. So, in the luxury segment, there were precedents when unscrupulous production contractors produced additional unaccounted for batches. Such a product may be completely identical in its characteristics to the original, but, according to international copyright law, is also counterfeit. По оценке гендиректора Fashion Consulting Group, цены на оригинальную продукцию, ввезенную в страну в рамках параллельного импорта, могут вырасти минимум на 15%.
Цены на оригинальную продукцию, ввезенную в рамках параллельного импорта, могут вырасти минимум на 15%
Некоторые магазины уходящих марок просто меняют вывески. Так, в июле один из московских магазинов Levi's возобновил работу под новым брендом JNS. По информации РБК, права аренды и товарный сток у американского производителя выкупил российский дистрибьютор спортивной одежды Lestate. В дальнейшем под лейблом JNS компания планирует развивать мультибрендовую сеть, осуществляя поставки «своими силами». Как предполагают эксперты, закупать такие товары, скорее всего, будут в Турции и ОАЭ.
Косметика: контрафакт, просрочка и ставка на корейские бренды
В список товаров, которые власти разрешили ввозить в обход правообладателей, вошла также парфюмерно-косметическая продукция известных марок. По словам автора Aromablog Екатерины Хмелевской, все интернет-магазины давно наводнены «серыми» поставками, особенно маленьких и нишевых брендов, но крупные розничные сети до сих пор к ним не прибегали. В новых реалиях, однако, ситуация может измениться, заявил президент «Рив Гош» Эдгар Шабанов РБК Life:
«Мы не являемся активными сторонниками параллельного импорта, но в условиях одностороннего прекращения иностранными поставщиками исполнения обязательств по текущим контрактам организация поставок по схеме параллельного импорта является чуть ли не единственной возможностью обеспечить рынок востребованной продукцией».
За последние месяцы косметика и парфюмерия на российском рынке уже подорожали в среднем на 15-20%, а изменения в логистике и сопутствующие риски заставят ритейлеров еще больше поднять цены, прогнозируют эксперты.
Косметика и парфюмерия на российском рынке уже подорожали в среднем на 15-20%
Впрочем, пока, по их наблюдениям, участники рынка замерли в ожидании и распродают старые запасы. «Насколько мне известно, торговые сети, например «Золотое яблоко», подстраховались и сделали закупки весной — завезли все основные товары, которые можно было завезти, на любых условиях. Этих запасов должно хватить на какое-то время», — комментирует Богдан Зырянов, админ Telegram-канала о парфюмерии Hearthesmell. Забиты склады и у представительств брендов, вот только они не могут продать товар, а сети не могут его купить, делится другой источник The Insider. Компаниям придется искать посредника и способ вывести деньги.
Для косметических сетей неофициальные поставки также сопряжены с серьезными проблемами. Первым препятствием может стать политика самих производителей. По словам члена правления Российской парфюмерно-косметической ассоциации Анны Дычевой-Смирновой, некоторые из них внимательно следят за тем, кому они отгружают товар, и фиксируют пункт назначения:
«Есть косметические компании, которые, уйдя с российского рынка, зафиксировали в договорах с дистрибьюторами либо представительствами объемы закупок (например, +10% к прошлому году), и им вряд ли удастся «протащить» те объемы, которые нужны для заполнения российского рынка».
По словам Богдана Зырянова, как и в случае с одеждой и техникой, велик риск того, что под прикрытием параллельного импорта на витрины российских магазинов попадет контрафактная продукция.
«Часто разница видна невооруженным глазом, но и есть и примеры виртуозного подделывания, когда отличить фейковый флакон духов от оригинального непросто даже специалисту. Это касается и стекла, и полиграфии, и самого аромата: первые три минуты качественные подделки «звучат» очень похоже на оригинал. Совершенно очевидно, что у проверяющих органов возникнут проблемы с идентификацией такого товара». Не исключено также, что неавторизованные дистрибьюторы будут привозить в Россию просроченный товар, который не смогут реализовать в странах-экспортерах».
Под прикрытием параллельного импорта на витрины российских магазинов попадет контрафакт
Оскудеет и ассортимент: до российских ритейлеров будут доходить не все продукты и новинки. Если раньше официальные поставщики требовали представлять марки и коллекции целиком, то местные продавцы будут закупать лишь самый ходовой товар, который точно продастся, добавляет Екатерина Хмелевская.
По мнению экспертов, расширять ассортимент крупным игрокам разумнее не через параллельный импорт, а за счет развития собственных торговых марок и сотрудничества с альтернативными брендами, готовыми официально поставлять свой товар в Россию. Заместить ушедшие западные бренды могут не только популярные у россиян «корейцы», но и менее очевидные производители: как рассказала Анна Дычева-Смирнова, розничные сети активно ведут переговоры по привлечению брендов из Китая, Индии, Турции, Пакистана и Ирана.
Назад в 90-е
Бывший крупный предприниматель, который теперь занимается бизнес-консалтингом, рассказал The Insider, что, по его мнению, в ближайшие годы российский рынок будет возвращаться к практикам 1990–2000-х годов и архаической инфраструктуре бизнеса, которую отличало сильное дистрибьюторское звено:
«Российский бизнес ступил в огромную серую зону, где все продвигаются ощупью, как в тумане. Думаю, что ни в одной другой стране деловое сообщество не проходило таких испытаний, какие сейчас проходим мы».
Когда бизнес зарождался, главными компаниями на рынке были оптовики, которые привозили товар. Как правило, они совмещали в себе сразу несколько функций: транспортную, финансовую и дистрибьюторскую. Потом, когда бизнес стал зрелым, в страну пришли представительства иностранных брендов — и функции разделили: транспортом стали заниматься транспортники, заказами и поставками — представительства брендов, а ритейл рос сам по себе. Чем занималось, например, представительство Apple в России? Они сами выбирали, что заказывать, привозили, таможили, страховали товар, анализировали продажи. Теперь ничего этого не стало — компаниям нужно все делать самим, заново налаживать этот сложный и дорогостоящий процесс, а компетенции за 20 лет пропали.
Поток «серого» импорта будет нарастать постепенно, сначала через мелких поставщиков или откровенных контрабандистов, продолжает эксперт. Но в итоге на рынке снова сформируется мощный дистрибьюторский канал — оптовые компании, которые в состоянии выстроить весь процесс от начала до конца. Это будет сопровождаться развалом традиционного ритейла и ростом продаж через маркетплейсы, которые позволяют анонимизировать продавцов.
О том, что легализация параллельного импорта отбросит Россию в 90-е, говорят и другие собеседники The Insider. «Горбушка» и вещевые рынки реинкарнируют в маркетплейсы: «Вы челнок, вы привозите товар, но теперь вам не нужно идти с ним на рынок — у вас есть маркетплейс». Бурный рост таких площадок приведет к увеличению потока контрафакта. В теории Ozon, Wildberries и «Яндекс.Маркет» обязывают продавцов подтверждать подлинность товара, но на деле бороться с фейками им не под силу. «Они экономят на всем, им не хватает персонала — рост бизнеса такой, что руководство давно за ним не поспевает, — рассказывает на условиях анонимности эксперт по работе с российскими маркетплейсами. — Жалобы на подделки часто обрабатывают или крайне перегруженные, малообразованные сотрудники, или просто программа-бот. И следят за контрафактом примерно так же».