Turnover of small and medium-sized businesses in Russia increased by 18% in 2024

In 2024, the turnover of small and medium-sized businesses increased by 18% compared to 2023. This follows from the data of the ERP "MoiSklad", which was reviewed by Izvestia on April 18.

However, in January and February 2025, compared with January and February 2024, this figure increased by only 6%.

Askar Rakhimberdiev, CEO of ERP MoiSklad, said that high competition forces companies to lower prices, which has a bad effect on profitability. In his opinion, it will be more difficult for small businesses to grow this year.

He also clarified that the trend towards staff shortages has begun to unfold, and the slowdown in economic growth is contributing to the fact that the number of vacancies is decreasing faster than the number of applicants.

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"Marketplaces will continue to grow, but its pace will decrease markedly. Entrepreneurs whose business was focused exclusively on IP (marketplaces. — Ed.), we have already thought about expanding sales channels, first of all about creating our own brands and opening online stores," the expert added.

At the same time, he noted that in 2025, online stores are expected to grow and budgets for their promotion are expected to increase. At the same time, offline stores will change, focusing on additional services and entertainment.

"Entrepreneurs have realized that speed and convenience are one of the main criteria when choosing a product by customers. The companies will also meet consumer demand for comprehensive offers, turnkey solutions: sell clothing sets, ready—made sets of goods, school kits, and the like," Rakhimberdiev predicted.

Earlier, on April 14, the Ministry of Economic Development reported that the gross value added created by small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) in 2023 exceeded 37.6 trillion rubles. As a percentage, this is 23.9%. Among the leading regions in terms of the share of SMEs in the gross regional product are the Republic of Kalmykia (43.6%), Novosibirsk Region (38.5%), Kabardino-Balkarian Republic (38.1%), Ivanovo Region (37.6%).