Wildberries, the number one Russian e-commerce company, has launched sales on the UK market, its “19th country of presence.”
UK customers can find on the site no less than 5.5 million goods from 164,000 international brands — from apparel and footwear, to beauty goods, toys, electronics and books — says Wildberries, cited by the TASS news agency,
Born in Russia in 2004, Wildberries serves several countries of the former Soviet Union: Armenia, Belarus, Kazakhstan and Kyrgyzstan as well as Ukraine (via its Polish subsidiary).
Since 2020, Wildberries has expanded to EU markets, including France, Italy, Spain, Germany, Poland, Slovakia and the Baltic States. The Russian e-commerce company also operates in Israel, Moldova, Turkey and the USA.
Wildberries reported total sales of more than $6 billion in 2020 (up from $3.3 million in 2019, according to Data Insight), including around $423 million generated outside Russia (according to Kommersant).
Emerging outbound e-commerce
Wildberries offers a rare example of a Russian online retailer selling outside Russian-speaking countries. While cross-border sales to Russia account for several billions of US dollars every year, Russian e-commerce majors have essentially focused on their domestic market so far.
Other examples include Ozon, whose products are popular among Russian-speaking communities in the USA, Israel and other countries. However, Ozon — which made a triumphant NASDAQ IPO in late 2020 — has no in-house logistic infrastructure outside Russia.
While focusing mainly on China-to-Russia sales, market leader AliExpress Russia (a joint property of Alibaba, VK Company and sovereign fund RDIF) also provides Russian merchants with international sales opportunities.
Other notable Russian online exporters include eBay, Faberlic (beauty products), Krakatau (clothing) and Maskulo (men’s “concept clothes”).
Data Insight, Russia’s leading e-commerce analytics agency, recently published a report on the Russian outbound e-commerce market (available in Russian only)
