The service sector in Moscow faced serious challenges between May 7 and 9 due to street closures and mobile internet restrictions imposed as part of the celebration of the 80th anniversary of Victory in the Great Patriotic War. Retail, delivery, and catering businesses felt the most significant impact.
Restricting access to mobile internet had a greater impact than street closures. According to company representatives, this affected geolocation, terminal operations, and mobile applications.
Lenta noted a slight decrease in online sales in the week of May 5-11, but Moscow recorded higher sales growth than other regions.
Delivery services, such as Dostaevsky, were forced to quickly adapt delivery routes and switch couriers to offline maps. In the event of closures, changes were coordinated with customers manually. The company also noted difficulties with payment: terminals depend on mobile communication, so they had to limit the possibility of card payments. Vkusvill took similar measures — from 8:00 to 14:00 on May 9, couriers inside the Moscow Ring Road could only pay for an order through the application or in cash.
Restaurant chains also adapted to the situation. Yakitoria reduced the working hours of two establishments on Tverskaya Street, compensating for this by expanding the delivery areas of neighboring points. Mnogo lososya prepared in advance for possible disruptions by launching a telephone hotline — from May 5 to 9, more than 300 orders were placed by telephone. The Tanuki network limited the operation of individual restaurants and deliveries from the evening of May 8 to May 9.
Some Vkusvill darkstores temporarily disabled paid express delivery, which resulted in a 9% decrease in the volume of such orders compared to the previous week. In X5 Group (Pyaterochka and Perekrestok brands), customer and courier applications did not work, and the average delivery time in some areas of Moscow increased by 20 minutes.
Overall, despite temporary difficulties, market participants were able to quickly adapt to force majeure conditions through logistical restructuring, switching to offline tools, and advance preparation.
Read more materials on the topic:
Compensations for interruptions: how operators responded to the shutdown of mobile Internet
Internet on May 9 will not be completely turned off — the interruptions will be pinpointed
