TASS · TASS · April 2021

Digital Tools for Small Business: VK's Experience During the Pandemic

The number of entrepreneurs on our platforms grew by a third in 2020. This is a signal: digital tools have stopped being 'additional' — they have become mandatory. And our job is to make them as accessible as possible to any entrepreneur in any region.

— Elina Isagulova, VP at Mail.ru Group

+33% Entrepreneurs in a Single Year

According to Mail.ru Group data, the number of entrepreneurs working through the holding's platforms grew by 33% over 2020. At the same time, their investments in digital tools grew by 40%. Both figures were a direct consequence of the pandemic: offline channels shut down, and businesses were forced to find new customer touchpoints.

For Elina Isagulova, who was heading the B2B commerce division at the time, these numbers confirmed the strategy was right: the VK for Business platform was making digital tools accessible not only to large companies, but to sole proprietors with no special technical knowledge.

A Full Cycle for Entrepreneurs

By 2021 the "VK for Business" platform unified the entrepreneur's entire customer cycle in the digital environment:

• Storefront and shop — an online store directly inside VKontakte, with a catalogue, cart, and payment, requiring no technical knowledge
• Targeted advertising — access to an audience of 81.5 million users via VK Ads and myTarget
• Analytics and data — buyer behavior, campaign effectiveness, conversions
• Education — free courses on digital marketing, data work, and online sales
• Partner ecosystems — integrations with banks, logistics services, and government SME support programmes

Regional Partnerships

A key element of the strategy was agreements with regional authorities: Mail.ru Group signed SME digitalization agreements with Moscow Oblast, Udmurtia, Tatarstan, and Chuvashia. Simultaneously, a partnership was established with the My Business Association and Bank Otkrytie — opening access to the government support infrastructure across the country.

For Isagulova, this was a matter of principle: an entrepreneur in Kazan or Izhevsk deserves the same opportunities as one in the capital — and the platform made it possible to deliver that without physical presence.

SMEs as an Economic Priority

Experts cited the potential of SMEs at 40% of employment and 25% of Russia's GDP — with adequate digital support. Elina Isagulova consistently advocated this position at SPIEF, digitalization forums, and meetings with regional businesses. Digitalization of SMEs is not philanthropy from large platforms — it is an investment in the resilience of the entire economy.