Russia has become the it girl of e-commerce. Even amid a slowing economy, the country’s online shopping increased 26 percent last year, to 510 billion rubles (about $16 billion), according to Moscow’s Data Insight, and could double by 2016. That has made the country an intriguing target for foreign players such as Amazon.com, eBay, Asos, and China’s Alibaba Group, while boosting the fortunes of such local companies as search engine Yandex and Amazon-like Ozon.
The dark horse leading the race right now is Ulmart, an online retailer that reported $1.2 billion in sales last year. It has succeeded by doing what Amazon does not. Instead of wooing customers with low-cost home delivery, Ulmart encourages them to pick up their orders at urban outposts and warehouses that double as stores.
Ulmart CEO: “Amazon has no chance in Russia”Read More
