eBay exports its Russian growth tactics to catch Amazon, Alibaba

EBay Inc. is exporting a method to boost cross-border sales it pioneered in Russia to 120 territories, as the online marketplace seeks to recapture growth in the face of competition from Amazon and Alibaba.

In many places, EBay still means domestic classifieds; Americans mostly sell to Americans, Britons mostly to U.K. customers. But a few years ago, EBay’s local head realized that Russians mainly use the site for cross-border commerce. So, Ilya Kretov tweaked the software to let sellers easily target foreigners, resulting in a 50 percent surge in exports by Russians last year. Now, EBay has handed him 120 countries to replicate the achievement.