Retailer Wal-Mart Stores Inc (WMT.N) has let caution thwart its ambitions in Russia, and will find profits harder to come by if it delays getting a foothold in the vast market catering to 140 million people.
Fearful of getting hamstrung by Russia's complicated and time-consuming bureaucracy, the world number one retailer has been outmaneuvered by its European peers - Auchan AUCH.UL and Metro (MEOG.DE) have become the third and fourth biggest food retailers in the $300 billion-plus market.
It has missed out on the 30 percent-plus sales growth currently enjoyed by Russian retailers - now likely to slow as companies start to realise that further growth will depend on expansion into Russia's less wealthy provinces.