Consumer animosity towards Russia and Russian products in Estonia

Abstract Consumer animosity towards Russia and its products were surveyed in Estonia in the context of Russian war in Ukraine. The article examines consumer animosity through associations with product judgement, willingness to purchase, product ownership and constructs of consumer ethnocentrism. Consumer animosity covers general animosity, war and economic animosity. The survey conducted for the paper employed quantitative methodology, combining convenience and snowball sampling. The results revealed that 82.7% of respondents in Estonia show clear consumer animosity towards Russia and its products. Consumer animosity varied by age group but no statistically significant variation was found between consumer animosity scores and gender, education level or income groups. The article also explores the overestimation of digital transformation in consumer behaviour in both the European Union and Estonia due to certain consumer segments who prefer in-store shopping and are willing to spend time to seek out desired products that are not available in online retail.