Although Russia’s Internet economy started late, it has developed very fast. According to a survey by ParcelHero, a British international parcel delivery company, Russia has the largest online population in Europe. Among its 147 million people, the Internet penetration rate exceeds 70%. It is known as the market with the greatest potential for cross-border e-commerce and firmly occupies the top spot in China’s cross-border e-commerce transactions. It is a potential global e-commerce market, of which 74% of e-commerce sales objects live in towns and 26% in rural areas. In terms of the ratio of men to women, there are more women than men who shop online in Russia. According to data from the Russian Association of E-commerce Enterprises, Russia’s e-commerce revenue in 2016 increased by 21% from 2015 to US$16 billion, and reached US$20 billion in 2017. With the holding of the 2018 World Cup in Russia, everyone’s eyes have turned to Russia.
Russia’s domestic problems such as “digital divide”, “logistics distribution” and “non-cash settlement is not popular” have posed a huge obstacle to the development of e-commerce. However, Russia has a large number of potential users, which is the main reason why foreign retailers are interested in the Russian e-commerce market.