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Limiting and Driving Factors of E-commerce Market Development in Russia: Evidence from an Empirical Mixed-Method Study
The role of e-commerce in economic growth is constantly increasing; its development though depends on the configuration of the limiting and driving factors. Emerging markets provide a wide space and numerous opportunities for e-commerce, however they are also associated with specific barriers, limiting the potential for fully exploiting these opportunities. With the internet audience of 84 million people, the Russian emerging market represents the largest online audience in Europe, stimulating substantial e-commerce growth over the last decade. Investigation of this market provides opportunities for understanding e-commerce success factors and potential barriers in the context of emerging markets. The main objective of this paper is to reveal the limiting and driving factors for development of the e-commerce market in Russia. The paper gives an overview of current Russian internet retailing market development. To identify limiting and driving factors of the e-commerce market development in Russia, a mixed-method multilevel empirical research is applied, including 60 in-depth qualitative interviews with representatives of Russian internet businesses on the firm level at the first step and the quantitative survey with the sample of 1,093 respondents on the consumer individual level at the second stage of the research. The findings reveal the structure of the driving and limiting factors, highlighting the core role of the trustworthiness and transparency of e-commerce market players, delivery conditions and store-related risks.