Belarus: Cross Border Online Shopping To Fill Market Vacancies

Belarus's trade laws are stern, the market can not choose much commodities, prices far higher than Russia and European countries, the more Belarus people began to choose to shop abroad.

In mid November, China

Its speed express has launched the "double 11" online shopping promotion.

Consumers flocked to the site to buy things. The day's shopping volume ranked fifth in the world, and even left behind us consumers and Canadian consumers.

At the same time, Belarus people often cross the border on weekends to shop in neighboring European countries.

This fall, the Russian rouble depreciation triggered a shopping boom, and many Belarus people rushed to Russia to snap up goods that had fallen in price.

The government of Belarus is deeply concerned about the behavior of the Belarusians overseas shopping, which has led to the loss of foreign exchange.

According to statistics, the total amount of overseas shopping in Belarus has reached 3 billion US dollars annually, and local manufacturers are losing market share.

However, the adoption of coercive means to stop the influx of imported goods is not feasible.

The Belarus authorities allow people to meet their material needs in exchange for their political loyalty.

Belarus people are active cross-border online shopping.

According to the report, on the day of Alibaba's "double 11" online shopping festival, Belarus became one of the most active overseas consumer groups, spending fifth of the world's day, even more than Americans and Canadians.

Russian consumers ranked first in consumption, followed by Brazil, Israel and Spain.

Belarus's state control of the economy simply can not meet the domestic consumer demand.

Many people lack local channels to buy international brands, nor can they enjoy seasonal discounts as often as market economies do.

Many foreign companies have just entered the Belarus market, and the types of goods are still very limited.

At a time when domestic prices are high, Belarus people tend to shop in neighboring cities, such as Lithuania's capital Vilnius, Poland's Warsaw, Bea, and so on.

Recently, Russia has also become an ideal destination for shopping, because Russian goods have become cheaper because of the depreciation of rouble.

Belarus Internet penetration rate is higher and higher.

In the autumn of 2014, data from the presidential office Analysis Center showed that about 62% of the people in Belarus would surf the Internet, of whom 50% were mobile Internet users.

PayPal, a well-known payment company, started operation in Belarus in June this year, providing convenience for Belarus people to go shopping online.

In May 2013, MASMI, a British research firm, reported that 20% of the urban residents in Belarus would go shopping online, some of them shopping regularly from overseas websites.

Other data show that Belarus's online shopping volume has increased rapidly in recent years.

Russian electronics and cars are most popular.

The recent economic situation in Russia has prompted Belarus people to pour into the country to buy cheap cars and digital products.

Russia's ruble depreciated by 45% this year, especially in the autumn.

However, Russian businessmen did not increase their prices according to the ruble's depreciation rate, which provided Belarus people with unique opportunities to buy cheap goods. Belarus people did not need visas to enter Russia.

According to the news of radio Belarus, travel services, automobiles and electrical appliances are the most commonly purchased goods and services in Belarus.

Appliances attract popular products from Belarus customers.

The price of Russian appliances is much lower than that of Belarus's domestic market, and the price difference is enough to cover the travel expenses for shopping in Russia.

In general, the most popular purchase of Belarus people in Russia is automobiles.

The price difference between Belarus and Russia varies from thousands of dollars to tens of thousands of dollars.

At the same time, the illegal automobile trade between Russia and the white border prospered.

Many stolen black cars are heavily imported into Belarus.

The attitude of the Belarus government

Lithuania is the nearest shopping destination for Minsk residents, with a distance of only 200 kilometers.

However, the level of consumption in Lithuania will become higher and higher because it will use the euro as its currency in 2015.

At the same time, Belarus people will also go shopping in Poland.

Not only the Belarus people close to the Poland border, but also the consumers in the central area of Belarus often go shopping in Poland.

Thriving and thriving, many companies and self-employed individuals began to provide guidance services to Warsaw and Bea's Belarus.

According to the Statistics Bureau of Poland, the consumption of Belarus in Poland from July 2013 to September was 250 million US dollars, higher than that of Russians and Ukrainians.

The Belarus government recently expressed concern about the massive purchase of EU goods by Belarusian people.

In September 2013, President Lukashenka of Belarus said in a speech: "western countries criticize us as a poor country, but our people spend up to 3 billion dollars a year abroad.

In order to prevent overseas consumption craze, I have issued a decree: if Belarus people want to go abroad, they will have to pay 100 US dollars.

Only in this way will people be forced to patronize domestic stores and buy things instead of buying them abroad.

At present, this law has not been implemented and may never be implemented.

Belarus is currently the only country in the region that has not yet joined the WTO.

Its Eurasian alliance and partners, such as Russia and Kazakhstan, have joined Russia and have benefited from it.

However, Belarus's trade protectionist policy has kept its domestic commodity prices at a high level, which means that Belarus people will continue to shop in eastern and Western Europe.