Putin's fresh economy nightmare as new brands entering Russian market halves

Russia has reportedly seen fewer brands enter this year. (Image: Getty)

Vladimir Putin is facing a fresh economic nightmare as the rate of new brands entering the Russian retail market has decreased by more than half in a year, new figures suggest. A study by Russian real estate consultancy Nikoliers detailed that, in the first six months of 2025, 20 new brands appeared in the country – 8 foreign and 12 domestic. In the first half of 2024, however, 35 new firms announced the opening of their premises in shopping centers or as part of street retail – 19 foreign and 16 Russian.

In 2025, 37% of the companies were from Italy, 25% from Turkey, 12% from China and 13% from Belarus and Kazakhstan. In 2024, China was the leader with 26%, Turkey, South Korea and Italy had an equal share of 16%, followed by Germany with 11%. Uzbekistan, Armenia and Spain accounted for 5% of the market. According to Nikoliers, approximately 51 brands (24 from outside Russia and 27 domestic) may debut in Russia in 2025.

Foreign brands left Russia following its full-scale invasion of Ukraine. (Image: Getty)

In 2024, 73 brands (38 Russian and 35 foreign) entered the country's market.

The Russian news service Interfax states that the slowdown is "a natural process after active development in 2023-2024, when both domestic and foreign brands actively occupied the space of departed international players".

It adds that the share of Russian brands as regards "large-format tenants" has risen from 57% to 76% over the past four years.

Interfax also states that other factors behind the decline in the number of new brands entering the market include low vacancy rates, as well as a shortage of quality space for business development.

This is amid "restrained pace of new shopping center development". "This situation with a shortage of available space may persist on the Russian market until 2027," the report added.

Since Russia's full-scale invasion of Ukraine began in February 2022, hundreds of western companies have left Russia, the Kyiv Independent reports.

The Kyiv School of Economics reported that 472 foreign firms have fully withdrawn, and another 1,360 have scaled back operations.

Compensation for the "damage" caused by foreign companies that left the Russian market in 2022 will be one of the conditions for their return, Presidential Adviser and Executive Secretary of the St. Petersburg International Economic Forum (SPIEF) Organizing Committee Anton Kobakov said in June.

"Now these companies [that have left] are saying, ‘We want to come back.’ They inflicted considerable damage on us, and we expect them to compensate for it. At the very least, such compensation will be one of the prerequisites for any business seeking to re-enter our economy," Mr Kobakov told reporters, according to the Russian news service TASS.