Methodology comment: revision of weekly consumer spending patterns calculation methodology

SberIndex has decided to revise its weekly consumer spending assessment methodology. The revision is largely caused by regular shifts of online department stores and online wholesale stores and marketplaces between various expenditure categories, which are driven by merchant acquiring costs optimization efforts and other factors. For instance, these shifts could occur due to the temporary maximum acquiring fee rate for companies selling social goods set by the CBR in April 18 – August 31, 2022.

Regular category shifts and total trade volume growth in online department stores and online wholesale stores and marketplaces could distort the picture of certain consumer spending category patterns. For this reason, it was decided to consolidate all consumer expenditures in marketplaces, online department stores, and online wholesale stores into a separate category Department Stores and Marketplaces and to fully exclude these points of sale from other spending categories.

Another methodology change features an adjustment for new non-acquiring technology-driven payment methods, whose share in total turnover in 2022 has shown a substantial growth to 4.3% in August vs 1.8% in January.

SberIndex has revised weekly consumer spending change estimates dating back to early 2020 under the new methodology.