Russian e-commerce is looking at a steady growth, and several Chinese e-retailers want to make sure they will get a slice of the cake, informs «Pacific Russia».
Last year 160 million packages and parcels were sent to Russian online consumers, which was a rise of 10 percent compared to the previous year, Internet Retailer reports. Russian e-commerce is also said to have grown by 16 percent in rubles to 650 billion, but since the ruble at the same time lost value compared to the US dollar, the market size has actually become smaller.
But just like in many other countries, e-commerce in Russia is growing by the day and since the country’s online retail market still only counts for 2 percent of Russia’s total retail market, there seems to be great growth potential.
The most popular categories to shop online from in 2015 were sporting goods and leisure items, pet goods, children’s goods, clothing and footwear, as well as groceries, according to IR. Electronic devices, home appliances, cosmetics and perfumes however had a tougher year.
During last year, the interest for making purchases online were especially prominent in smaller cities and villages, as well as in the Primorie, Sakhalin and Khabarovsk regions, which are all in the east of Russia.
Cross boarder purchases became the biggest hit of e-commerce in Russia during 2015. The value of products bought online from other coutries came in at $3.4 billion, up from $2.2 billion in 2014, and China seems to be the big winner. AliExpress already in 2014 became the largest e-commerce platform in Russia, and in June last year Alibaba concurrent JD.com entered the Russian market by launching a Russian version of its platform.
According to IR, JD.com has its goal set on taking 20 percent of the Russian e-commerce market. The Chinese online giant has previously announced it will invest up to one hundred million dollars to address the logistic challenges of Russia.