The Russian e-commerce market has faced serious upheavals following a series of drone strikes on the logistics centers of the largest marketplace, Wildberries. The consequences of the attacks, carried out by Ukrainian forces, quickly affected not only the platform's operations but also the wallets of ordinary buyers and the income of thousands of sellers.
Sharp Price Hikes and Reduced Discounts
According to The Moscow Times, prices for goods in Russian online stores rose by 10–30% in the first days following the incidents. Buyers are noting the increased cost of popular items literally within a few days. One entrepreneur, who actively uses the marketplace for both sales and personal purchases, spoke of a shocking rise in the cost of goods in her cart: "Last week I ordered for 1600 rubles, and now it's already 2100. Prices have skyrocketed by 30%".
The sellers themselves confirm this trend, noting price increases of 3–30%. However, many of them claim that they did not initiate the price review themselves. According to them, the price hike was a result of the reduction of discounts that the Wildberries platform itself previously offered to attract customers.
Logistical Collapse and Shortage of Goods
In addition to price changes, consumers have faced a critical slowdown in logistics. If delivery previously took 2 to 4 days, the timelines have now stretched to almost ten days. A noticeable shortage of new stock is being recorded at various pickup points, creating queues and dissatisfaction among customers.
The problems have affected not only Wildberries. On the competing platform Ozon, whose infrastructure did not suffer significant physical damage, similar trends are also observed. Sellers note that Ozon is following the lead of its main competitor, significantly cutting its own discounts. In some categories, such as clothing and footwear, the commission for sellers on Ozon has exceeded 60%, making work on the platform less profitable.
Damage to Sellers and Compensation Issues
The most affected party has been entrepreneurs whose goods were stored in the destroyed warehouses. Estimates suggest that as a result of the strikes, Wildberries lost at least 10% of its warehouse capacity. This has led to direct losses for tens of thousands of sellers.
Despite the company's statements about completing the second stage of payments for 175,000 sellers, many remain dissatisfied with the size of the compensation. Entrepreneurs claim that the amounts received cover only a negligible portion of the cost of the lost goods. The company itself stated that it would take at least 30 days to fully assess the scale of the damage, after which full payments would begin.
The situation in the e-commerce market remains unstable, and experts predict that the restoration of logistics chains and price balance will take some more time.
