Over the past few years, the Russian online payment market has been actively developing, demonstrating the growing business need for high-quality financial services. According to the Association of Internet Trade Companies (AKIT), in 2024 the volume of Internet trade in Russia increased by 41% and reached almost 9 trillion rubles. At the same time, 97% of all online purchases are accounted for by domestic companies, which indicates a high level of market localization.
In the coming years, the online payments market is expected to continue to grow, says Garik Kravtsov, founder and CEO of Payselection.
“The trend towards using alternative payment methods will grow. The market is witnessing a decrease in the share of bank cards in the total volume of transactions. This situation indicates that a change in user preferences will move the online payment market towards more convenient and alternative payment methods: Sber Pay, Fast Payment System (FPS), BNPL services and others, ” the expert emphasizes.
Recently, the possibility of returning the international payment systems Visa and Mastercard to the Russian market has also been discussed. Experts suggest that this will expand the capabilities of the Russian online payment market.
“However, integration into a reformatted structure can take a long time,” Garik Kravtsov warns. “In addition, it will be problematic to regain the previous market share of Visa and Mastercard, since this niche has already been occupied by the domestic card Mir.”