E-Commerce Strategy Improvement for Essity

Abstract The development of the e-commerce market is a consequence of the increasing number of Internet users. Currently, the e-commerce market, both in the world and in Russia, is constantly growing. This growth is justified by a number of advantages that e-commerce offers to both producers and consumers. For the manufacturer, going online is an opportunity to cut costs, reach a large audience, personalize the offer; for the consumer - a greater choice of goods and services, convenience and comfort when choosing a product, the opportunity to save, as well as anonymity. For the FMCG companies, such as Essity, Unilever, P & G, Kimberley Clark, Nestle and others, working with an online channel is a definite challenge. To create a competitive advantage, companies strive to follow the main challenges of the industry, which requires a business to adapt competently to new conditions and work actively with the consumer. Essity is one of the world's leading manufacturers of personal care products and medical products. Essity strives not only to provide customers with a quality product but also to make access to it convenient. The goal of Essity is to increase the market share of e-commerce in FMCG, but today the existing strategy does not fully meet the challenges of the market, as well as the goals of the company. In particular, there are problems with the choice of promotion tools in the Internet channel and the efficiency of the team (consisting of employees of the marketing and sales departments) responsible for the development of the Internet channel. The purpose of this study is to improve the development strategy of the company Essity in the Russian e-commerce market. To achieve this goal following tasks are in work: 1. To study the features and role of e-commerce in the modern economy 2. To analyze and systematize the development strategies of companies in the e-commerce market and methods for evaluating their effectiveness 3. To analyze the specifics of the development of the Russian e-commerce market, consumer preferences and formulate the most appropriate strategies for the Russian market. 4. To analyze the activities of the company Essity in the Russian market and develop recommendations for improving the development strategy of the e-commerce market in order to increase market share in the segments of paper products and personal care products To fulfil the goals and objectives of the study, methods are used: deduction, synthesis, comparison, observation, description, and questionnaire survey methods to identify preferences of Russian consumers on the Russian e-commerce market in the segment of consumer goods. The paper explored the features of the Russian FMCG e-commerce market, as well as analyzed and systematized approaches to building a company's strategy in the e-commerce market. The result of the study is a list of recommendations for eliminating the problems identified in the company's strategy. The recommendations are based on the analysis of the company, the market and consumers. The following are general recommendations aimed at increasing the company's market share and creating a competitive advantage.