Russian Fashion Brands Resort to 'Tearful Marketing' Amid Falling Sales

Russian clothing and jewelry brands have started appealing directly to customers for support, organizing large-scale sales and warning about possible closures, according to Kommersant.

Photo: Pravda.Ru by Anna Morozova is licensed under publiс domain

Jewelry items

Viktoria Moldavskaya, founder of the jewelry brand Viva La Vika, asked her followers to purchase items from her store. She offered a 30 percent discount to those who respond to the appeal.

Gate31 (women's clothing brand) resorted to a similar approach and promised to maintain discount opportunities for engaging customers.

The brand owner chose not to cut costs or close retail locations – a decision that affected financial performance. Between January and March, Gate31 recorded losses of 31 million rubles.

According to Sergey Semko, an analyst at Data Insight, the market faces pressure from declining consumer demand, rising business costs, and ongoing staffing challenges.

Brands that failed to adapt quickly or expand into marketplaces feel these pressures most acutely.

However, analysts say that even if the audience responds positively once, customers will later expect consistent positive updates from the brand that they earlier supported. Continued reliance on such tactics could damage business reputation.

Russian brands have already begun restructuring their retail formats. Many companies now focus on smaller stores of up to 1,500 square meters.

Businesses aim to optimize product ranges and reduce costs by closing large, unprofitable locations and reopening in areas with higher customer traffic.