All for yourself: twice as many Russians started buying "little joys" every week

The number of those who spend every week on "small pleasures" for themselves has doubled in 2025. 58% of Russians surveyed during the study of the payment service in installments indulge themselves with "mood shopping". As it turned out, most often citizens buy clothes, shoes, perfumes and gadgets. Experts attribute the increase in their number to the development of online retail and the growing popularity of marketplaces. People can purchase an item in one click, and then pick it up at a convenient time or call a courier. At the same time, the share of those who spend up to 2,000 rubles at a time on small gifts for themselves has increased almost sixfold. How much do Russians rate this shopping therapy and how the average bill changes is described in the Izvestia article.

Why in Russia it has become more common to make purchases "for the mood"

More than a third of Russians surveyed (39%) shop for their pleasure every week. Another 19% do this almost daily, according to a study of the Dolami service (Izvestia has it). At the same time, every fourth respondent spends on himself about once a month and 14% every few months.

Most often, people buy things related to appearance and comfort to raise their mood. Thus, 60% of respondents choose clothes and shoes, which is twice as much as it was a year earlier. Cosmetics and perfumes are in second place (34%), electronics and gadgets are in the top 3 (26%). Russians also like to buy books and magazines (19%) and jewelry (17%).

The increase in such purchases is due to the active development of online retail and marketplaces, the study says. Fast delivery and the ability to quickly place an online order have made the process easier and less noticeable for your personal budget. So, in 2025, 46% of respondents spent money on themselves mainly on the Internet.

In the first half of this year, the turnover of e-commerce in the country increased by a third and reached 5.3 trillion rubles. At the same time, the bulk of transactions occur on marketplaces — about 80% of all online orders are picked up at pick-up points today, noted Denis Goldman, an economist and independent PR specialist.

— This is convenient, as you do not need to adjust to the courier, you can simply go shopping at any time on your way from work or from home. In addition, prices on marketplaces are 15-20% lower on average than in traditional retail, due to demand aggregation and logistics optimization. For many, this format has become more familiar than going to a regular store," he explained.

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Marketplaces in general are changing their work model and are becoming more and more similar to social networks, Ksenia Kasyanova, Vice President for Strategy and New Business at KROS, drew attention. The product feed works almost the same way as recommendation posts on the Internet. A simple swipe causes small bursts of pleasure. When the opportunity to buy a product in one click is added to this, it becomes more difficult to resist, the expert added.

According to a study by Shares, the reason for buying is often a good mood or some kind of achievement. However, 21%, on the contrary, are spent on "small pleasures" under the influence of negative emotions, stress or indisposition. In addition, the change of seasons affects — more than a third noted that the desire to buy a pleasant thing appears in the fall. This is probably due to the seasonal blues.

At the same time, many people are deterred from spontaneous purchases by the price — about 69% of respondents refrain from spending because of high prices. At the same time, 58% of respondents named high cost as the main barrier.

How much do Russians spend on "small pleasures"

The attitude of Russians towards the amount of purchases "for the mood" has also changed — they are indeed made more often, but for a smaller check. 60% spend no more than 2 thousand rubles at a time, compared with 11% a year earlier, according to the analysis. A third of Russians choose items from 2 thousand to 5 thousand. Larger purchases are becoming rare: 9% are willing to give 5-10 thousand, and 2% — more than 10 thousand.

At the same time, 73% of all transactions on marketplaces in the first 10 months of 2025 amounted to less than 2 thousand rubles. And the average check was about 2.5 thousand. The indicator has hardly changed compared to last year — small purchases remain the dominant scenario of online consumption, the study notes.

However, the payment methods vary. Almost half prefer to pay for the product in full immediately, while a quarter sometimes choose to pay in installments. And the ability to pay gradually affects the number of items in the receipt. On average, the share of purchases with two or more items when paying in installments is 56% (compared to 34% in the same analysis for regular payments), according to a study by the service.

The average receipt for paying for purchases in installments is also 2.7 times higher — 11.4 thousand rubles with "Shares" versus 4.3 thousand for card payments. The difference is especially noticeable in certain categories: in clothes and shoes, the check is more than twice as high (13.8 thousand versus 6 thousand), in travel — almost five times (14.4 thousand versus 2.7 thousand).

Nevertheless, the growth of purchases "for the mood" is a combination of several factors, while the psychological one plays an even more significant role, says Olga Gogaladze, an economist and expert on financial markets. Against the background of high information load and general uncertainty, people are more likely to look for quick ways to improve their emotional state, and small spontaneous purchases are perceived as a small act of self-care.

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In addition, the changed consumption model is added: modern shopping increasingly consists of small but frequent expenses, similar to subscription services in the entertainment industry, the expert is sure. An additional contribution is made by the terms of purchase themselves — discounts, personal recommendations, coupons and fast delivery make such expenses almost invisible to the budget, although they can be significant when recalculated by month or year, Olga Gogaladze added.

In addition, incomes of the population have increased, Alexey Konoplev, a retail entrepreneur and founder of Copterdrone, drew attention. According to him, if large purchases — for example, household appliances — take time to think about, then small pleasant purchases are made much easier. They have become more accessible.