Page 2 - Russia Wrap
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Russian Winter Holiday Retail Glimpses
Winter in Russia is a long and tedious season – some half-jokingly say it takes almost half a year from October till March which is in fact true for many
towns and territories to the east of Moscow. That seasonal condemnation may be one of the reasons why even in Russia’s capital city winter holiday
retail is conducted and decorated in a highly predictable and familiar manner. And indeed why bother if Russians traditionally plan to and spend more
in December – even when economy slows down (please see Deloitte Russian New Year Spending 2014 Survey for the plethora of interesting finds on the
subject).
Most of the materials provided below were found in Moscow and while it is (along with St.Petersburg and few other major cities) very different from the
rest of the country, many cultural traditional and visual motifs are the same all over Russia. These are the Russian version of Santa – named Ded Moroz
(Granddad Frost) who’s often accompanied by his granddaughter and helper Snegurochka, http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Snegurochka. Apart from
those two other major motifs are Christmas tree, snowflakes, bullfinches and a trio of horses.
Most of the Moscow (and Russia) retailers use the above-mentioned imagery for all of their purposes. There is even a rumour that city/town authorities
across Russia demand usage of these visual elements as mandatorial for every shop window. Luckily there are few exceptions, like the Hermes store:
