While some companies have announced that they are withdrawing completely from the Russian market, others, particularly in distribution, are staying put.
Continuing to do business in Russia despite the context is not trivial, especially for brand image. Consumers, according to a study by the British company GlobalData, would be 41% to say they would be ready to boycott a brand they are used to consuming if they learn that it is maintaining its Russian activities. But it is still difficult to measure the impact of such a boycott.
A complex geopolitical situation does not facilitate business… Quite the contrary. The war in Ukraine leads companies to make a choice: to continue their activities in Russia despite the context… or to temporarily freeze their business there. Many have decided to bang their fists on the table. This is particularly the case for Amazon, Netflix, Spotify, Adidas and Ikea. Others have frozen their investments, without however stopping their production, like Danone.
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A boycott that gave ideas to Václav Kudělka, reports the Huffington Posta graphic designer from the Czech Republic, who set out to “customiser» the logos of these brands. Thus, Netflix has become “Nyetflix» – «not“meaning”nonin Russian -Spotify became “Stopify», and the sports equipment supplier Adidas in «Bye Bye“. The Visa brand has its own “Until the visa» and the airline Lufthansa transformed into «Lefthansa».
If Europe and a large part of the international community have implemented a series of sanctions, mainly economic, to try to weaken the regime of Vladimir Putin, some companies have decided to continue their activities. This is particularly the case for the Auchan, Decathlon and Leroy Merlin brands, which belong to the Mulliez group. Auchan employs more than 30,000 people in Russia in 231 stores for a turnover of… 3.1 billion euros out of a total of 30 billion worldwide. Suspending this market would therefore not be anecdotal.
Consumers determined to boycott
The McDonald’s and KFC restaurant chains have decided to close their restaurants in Russia… except for establishments run under franchise. The LVMH group, which chose to withdraw its products from the Russian market as soon as Vladimir Putin declared war on Ukraine. In 2020, Russian customers accounted for 6.6% of its cosmetics and toiletries sales, the equivalent of more than $300 million, according to figures cited in the GlobalData study.
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«This is a drastic but necessary step considering not only the evolving complications of doing business in the marketplace, but also the potential backlash to consumers around the world if this decision is not socketcommented Lia Neophytou, senior health and beauty analyst at GlobalData.