Nike is the latest company to block online sales in Russia through its online store and app.
The US multinational sporting goods company announced the blocking of all online sales of its merchandise to Russian customers, joining similar moves by Apple and Addidas in response to the Russian invasion of Ukraine.
Countries and companies are isolating Russia economically from the rest of the world following its attack on a sovereign nation six days ago.
Other companies that also announced they would cease shipments to Russia include:
- Nestle
- Asos
- H&M
- Coca-Cola
- Philip Morris
- UPS
- FedEx
- DHL
- Sendle
Companies such as Mastercard and Visa took similar actions, barring Russian institutions from accessing their networks. This, together with the blocking from the Swift network, means that Russia is even more cut off from the global financial system.
These are significant moves that will have a lasting economic impact on Russian companies and individuals.
Russian eCommerce Revenue was up 16% in 2021, totaling $30 Billion, making it the 12th largest eCommerce market in the world last year.
The three most prominent e-commerce players in the eastern European country in 2021 was:
- wildberries.ru – US$6.7 billion
- mvideo.ru – US$4.5 billion
- dns-shop.ru – US$2 billion
Already strained by Covid 19, supply chain issues will only continue to worsen for Russian online stores, with three of the largest shipping companies (Maersk, MSC & CMA CGM) announcing halting shipping to all Russian ports. This effectively cuts Russia, which supplies a sixth of the world's commodities, off from most of the global container shipping options and will only continue to affect shipping times and costs negatively.
Airfreight is also be affected by the near-complete ban of all Russian airplanes flying to the US and EU countries.
Sanctions and actions by countries and companies will only continue to isolate the online market players and will all but wipe out the 16% increase in the online market growth in Russia in 2021. The effects of this isolation will last long after the war is over.
This week's tragedy in Eastern Europe has again shown how vulnerable any market is to world events. Yet it also demonstrated how companies and individuals can make a difference by standing together against wrongful actions by any one country.
More sanctions will follow as Russia's war on Ukraine continues, further isolating Russia from the world. We can only hope that sanity is restored and peace prevails soon. Our thoughts are with all those affected by this senseless war.
