Andrey Milekhin?
First published in Research World November/December 2010
What you need to know to conduct research in the ‘postsovietik’ (post-Soviet space)
We are of age! It is exactly 18 years since Soviet Union ended and the very first children of the market economy took their first steps in the world of goods and services. Marketing specialists will increasingly have an easier job over the next 30 years.
Almost two decades ago about 300 million people were transferred, without notice, from a planned economy to a market one. Can the classic marketing research techniques be applied to people whose outlook and consumer habits were shaped under a socialist system? Yes, they can. But beware – there are many areas that need to be taken into account in order to apply methods correctly, interpret results, draw adequate conclusions and make prognoses.
Language
There is one thread that unites people across this enormous territory and will do so for years to come – the Russian language. In the capitals of many now–independent states, such as Astana, Kiev and Riga, the Russian language still prevails. Russian is essential, but is not enough. In many regions young people’s knowledge of Russian is declining, and in some provinces it has always been at a poor level. At the same time, ‘state’ languages are not always in everyday use. In the Uzbek city Samarkand, one of the historic megalopolises in Central Asia, the main language is Tajik. Some citizens even speak Old Iranian.
Therefore, when recruiting and controlling interviewers, one should consider not only the historical and religious peculiarities of the region (for instance, it’s hard to imagine female interviewers in Muslim regions), but also the fact that an interviewer must speak three to four languages. Interestingly, while the Russian language is quite homogeneous, the new words appearing in Russian have regional variants. When researching the usage of phones, you need to know that in Moscow a cell phone is called a ‘mobilnik’ (mobile phone), in the north–west of Russia it is a ‘trubka’ (phone receiver), and in the east (Siberia, Kazakhstan, Russian Far East) it’s a ‘sotka’ (cell phone).
Culture and History
Russian language is not only a means of communication. It also preserves knowledge and culture, and not just in ‘postsovietik’ (post-Soviet space). Curiously, 70% of Chinese people know the Russian song Podmoskovnye Vechera (Moscow Nights). At the same time, a lot of symbols of Russia like the samovar, matryoshka doll and meat dumplings originated in the Celestial Empire. It’s only logical to jokingly call this region ‘Asiope’ or North-East Asia or Central Eurasia, which is geographically correct.
It would be remiss not to mention other cultural oases that were united, protected or captured (choose whatever you like) by the Russian Empire, followed by the Soviet Union. For example, Tajikistan, which is now one of the poorest states in the region, once turned out to be too tough for Alexander the Great. Moreover, Armenia has a unique 39–letter alphabet allowing reproduction of the broadest phonetic palette ever. Developing a survey demands not only the avoidance of shallow and arrogant treatment of respondents (the education level in the Soviet Union was one of the highest in the world), but also flexible methods. For example, it is useless to build address selection or form routes in Uzbekistan as there is a traditional social institute of communal district (the mahalla) which deals with all possible household, safety and leisure problems. It is impossible to conduct a survey without the approval of mahalla leaders. On the other hand, these groups cover the whole country and allow for ideal sampling as they represent all national, territory and income groups.
Geography
Many people know that Russia until recently had 11 time zones. The Russian border with Kazakhstan is 7,600,000 kilometres. While the area is huge, 70% of it is uninhabitable. For example, for a large research project on social stratification in Russia more than 500 interview locations are needed; during Russian exit polls 428 voting districts need to be manned.
Uneven distribution of births by region and by nation, ethnic hatred, a rapid decline of quality of life causing uncontrollable migration, combined with weakly organised statistical services, all lead to anecdotic situations. Even large international companies use different population estimates. Thus, when evaluating market size we always ask the client, ‘What does your company accept as the population of Moscow?’ The answers vary between 8.7 million (according to the last population census conducted in the Soviet Union in 1989) and 20 million (the estimated number of residents of the Greater Moscow area, which includes immigrant workers, tourists and business visitors).
Communications & Economy
When planning a research project, communicating with respondents can be complex. For example, internet penetration in Estonia and Moscow is one of the highest in Europe, while in Central Asia the internet is considered rather exotic. Mobile phone penetration in Uzbekistan is almost 90% while in Tajikistan the coverage is several times lower.
In 1995, a strange fact came out of a large lifestyle study in Russia – expenses outrun incomes. It seems that people born in the time of the Soviet–planned economy only count their net salary as income, leaving out social benefits, material assistance from relatives, extra earnings and household land. In 2010 it was found that 39% of rural and semi–rural households get more than half of their food baskets (vegetables, fruit, preserved food, eggs, honey, mushrooms, berries, fish, poultry) from their own vegetable patches, forests or rivers. With this in mind, income inequality is somewhat reduced, but the gap between rural and cities is nevertheless huge. Studies indicate that the cost of a minimum food basket is almost equal across 500+ cities in the region. However, in Moscow and St. Petersburg this amount represents approximately 30% of income while in Rostov (in the south of Russia), Penza (Povolzhye) and Barnaul (Siberia) it amounts to 70–80% of income.
Sales spike significantly on the fifth and the twentieth days of each month. There are various interpretations for this trend, but most of those born in the old Soviet Union know that fifth and the twentieth were traditionally paydays in the time of the USSR. Some still live from paycheque to paycheque, and some just start spending more actively on these dates out of habit.
Tastes
Tastes vary across the region. Moldavian wine enjoys great popularity in the European part of Russia, and Georgian wine is popular in the territory over the Urals. The reason for this lies in the Soviet–planned economy. Moldavian wine was supplied to the western regions and Georgian wine was mostly delivered to eastern ones. We are far removed from a planned economy, but it is deep–rooted. Some foods and products can be indicative of social tension. When the latest crisis became apparent, low–income groups decreased general consumption but stocked up on cheap macaroni and washing powder. People remember (either personally or from history) dozens of wars, famine and genocides over the last hundred years. They respond rapidly and exaggeratedly.
Russians love sweet and fortified wines, prefer their vodka cold and don’t eat after the first shot. They drink their tea as hot as possible (Steppe people add milk, spices and fat) How does this affect research? Running a blind taste test for a French company which brought several brands of expensive dry red wine can be quite an experience. Including a brand ‘typical’ to the Russian consumer (the Abkhazian wine ‘Lykhny’, made from Isabella grapes) can produce horror and bewilderment in the client’s eyes as local, cheap, sweet and strong wine takes first place in almost all gender, age and income groups.
Conclusions
Post–Soviet market research can be frustrating. The industry is smaller than in Mexico because of its complexity and diversity. Well–proven Western technologies do not always work and insights are not that straightforward. The economy is also not transparent; it is difficult to understand how retail audits are done in Russia. Most retailers hide their own databases from governmental control authorities, let alone field workers. National Russian and Ukrainian online panels are unreliable as irregular penetration of the internet is at about 30%. Moreover, conducting a survey on Central Asia from a call centre somewhere in Scandinavia seems impossible (not only because of the language problem, but also due to low telephone penetration). Actually it’s difficult to understand what this data could be used for anyway.
But that’s all right. The region will set the historical record straight and gain capitalistic experience. Central Eurasia’s main problem is that it is still young in the market – it is only just 18.
Dr. Andrey Milekhin is president of Romir Holding, regional director for Eastern Europe and CIS of Gallup International Association.
