Illustration: Rahul Awasthi
Russia’s leading ecommerce platform Ozon is expanding to India after opening offices in China and Turkey earlier this year and hoping that entrepreneurs here can take advantage of the platform to start selling their products in Russia, its chief executive told ET.
According to local researcher Data Insight, the Russian ecommerce market may exceed $100 billion in 2024, more than twice its current value. Ozon is the leading multi-category ecommerce marketplace in Russia.
“Ecommerce is booming worldwide, and Russia is showing particularly dynamic growth in this sector. Online shopping is overtaking traditional retail in terms of growth,” Stepan Gusamov told ET. He said the number of online orders in Russia doubled last year, while the size of the ecommerce market grew 52% in Rouble terms.
“With a population of more than 145 million people and an online shopping audience of more than 70 million, Russia currently ranks 12th in the world by ecommerce sales,” he added.
“Last year, we opened local marketplaces in neighbouring Belarus and Kazakhstan, and started developing our logistics infrastructure there. Now, Ozon Global sees great opportunities in expanding its partnerships to sellers from various countries, including China, Turkey and India,” Gusamov said.
On the type of products that attract Russian consumers, Gusamov said, “We are already seeing demand among Russian consumers for various products from India, including health and beauty products, interior decoration, jewellery and clothing.”