In AKIT new chapter: what's next

The intensity of the struggle with our purchases in foreign online stores may decrease. Yesterday it became known that the head of ACIT Alexei Fedorov left the organization after two and a half years of leadership. Previously, he became known for his legendary statement “buying on AliExpress, you are essentially committing theft,” and the ACIT itself combined 39 largest Russian online stores, including Ozon, “M. Video ”,“ Children's World ”,“ Eldorado ”and re: Store.

The main task of AKIT is lobbying the interests of domestic retail, and ousting foreign Internet sites from the access field of Russian buyers. The association is known for its initiatives to tighten the rules of the game on the market, including lowering the duty-free shopping threshold and imposing additional taxes on the purchase of goods in China and the United States. Experts have calculated that the introduction of even a part of its proposals will increase the average cost of goods for buyers in Russia by 15.2%. Alexey Fedorov himself is very proud of this. On his successes as head of ACIT, he wrote on Facebook:

We, with our small team, have done a lot over two and a half years. Now, looking back, I understand that just a hell of a lot.

AKIT will continue to carry the good and bright, fighting with the legislative stupidity and injustice, which the state, in the simplicity of the soul and ignorance, quite often allows.

Alexey Fedorov

According to Fedorov, leaving AKIT became his initiative: he believes that he stopped the “onslaught of foreign online stores” and gave competitive advantages to domestic retail. Also, thanks to his initiatives, they legalized remote trade in alcohol, drugs and jewelry. But now “the problems of Russian e-commerce are close to a final solution,” most of the tasks have been completed, and it has become “a bit boring.”

Thanks to the influence of ACIT, the government decided several months ago to accelerate the reduction of the threshold for duty-free purchases abroad - to € 500 from July this year and to € 200 from January 2019. Also from the latest proposals - to introduce a 30% tax on all products from online sites in the United States as an “answer” to sanctions. The prospects for this idea in parliament are still being discussed.

Opening the second front

Free shopping at overseas online stores can only be complicated. With his free time, Alexey Fedorov plans to focus on the DIY industry (home and garden products, finishing and construction materials), and create a specialized organization, similar to AKIT, which will unite building networks. It will try to influence customs policy, duties and the development of competition. Fedorov’s skills in lobbying will not be wasted.

Artem Sokolov

And members of ACIT on May 30 plan to appoint a new president of the association. Most likely, they will be Artem Sokolov, who now occupies the position of executive director. Sokolov began his career in the Control Department of the Mayor of Moscow, and before joining AKIT he worked at Coca-Cola. Fedorov’s positions on foreign sites he fully shares. Among his proposals was the introduction of a VAT-registration institute for foreign online stores, and their registration, if their revenue for 3 months exceeds 2 million rubles.

Alexey Fedorov himself wrote about his successor on Facebook:

Leading AKIT to a bright future will be, if our members are supported, my close friend and comrade Artem Sokolov, who did exactly nothing less for me than AKIT, and knows even more about our plans and tasks.

Amazon Warehouse, one of those companies to which AKIT has not the warmest feelings.

At the end of 2017, the online retail market in Russia exceeded 1 trillion rubles, while the growth in popularity of foreign online stores slowed to 24% per year (from 37% in 2016). AKIT itself estimates that foreign online stores accounted for about 40% of all purchases on the Internet. According to them, “about 500 million parcels per year arrive from abroad in the country. At the same time, 60% of them are parcels from the United States and the countries of the NATO bloc, which openly demonstrate their unfriendly intentions towards Russia. ”

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