Residents in the Far East region, according to a VTB poll, continue to pay for unwanted subscription services at a rate of almost one in two.
Marketing subscriptions can be a challenge for many residents in the Far East. A recent survey suggests that 33% have two to three active subscriptions, while another quarter have a single subscription. This means that a significant number of people in the Far East are juggling multiple subscriptions, leading to unexpected charges for services that aren't being used.
The top unused but paid subscriptions in the Far East are multi-service subscriptions, marketplace subscriptions, and music service subscriptions, all accounting for more than 30% of respondents. Online cinemas come in third with 27%.
The financial losses from forgotten subscriptions can be substantial, with 45% of Far Eastern respondents spending between 300 to 500 rubles a month on services they don't use. The reasons for not canceling subscriptions are varied, with half of respondents hoping to use the service eventually, 18% fearing loss of discounts or bonuses, 14% not noticing the charges, and 27% avoid dealing with the details.
The survey findings suggest that customers prefer paying for quality content and additional services instead of resorting to 'pirate' services. However, the plethora of subscriptions means that users often forget about them and stop paying for the services. Vladimir Lavrov, head of the 'Development of Service Packages and Subscriptions' department at VTB, stated that subscriptions to various resources remain popular but users may forget about them due to the complexity of managing multiple subscriptions.
Industry trends suggest that the Far East’s fragmented supply chains and rapid urbanization could lead to multi-platform ecosystems and payment service fragmentation across countries/regions. Inventory management challenges like data duplication and disconnected systems may also apply to consumer subscription platforms, causing billing visibility gaps, auto-renewal notifications failing across regional platforms, and customer service delays. Emerging market dynamics, such as the expansion of financial services, could also cause growing pains in digital service infrastructure, particularly in unifying subscription management across cross-border payment methods, regional data regulations, and mobile-first vs. desktop interfaces.
While the VTB survey primarily focuses on industrial challenges like metals inventory and logistics surcharges, these systemic factors from adjacent industries provide context for potential friction points in managing subscriptions for residents in the Far East. For more specific insights, localized consumer protection reports from specific Far East markets would be required.
- Residents in the Far East, despite juggling multiple subscriptions, show a preference for multiservice, marketplace, and music service subscriptions.
- Unused but paid subscriptions in the Far East incur significant finance losses, with 45% of respondents spending monthly rubles 300 to 500 on such services.
- Personal-finance management remains a concern, with respondents citing various reasons for not cancelling subscriptions, such as the hope of using the service eventually or the fear of losing discounts or bonuses.
- The complexity of managing multiple subscriptions could lead to issues like billing visibility gaps, auto-renewal notifications failing across regional platforms, and customer service delays.
- Overcome these challenges, emerging market dynamics like the expansion of financial services and growing pains in digital service infrastructure need to address cross-border payment methods, regional data regulations, and the unification of subscription management across different interfaces (mobile-first vs. desktop).
