OZON, founded in 1998, is the earliest e-commerce platform in Russia. Since its establishment, OZON has continuously maintained its leading position in the field of B2C platforms in Russia, becoming a leader in the field of all-category e-commerce and known as the “Russian Amazon”. According to data, as of 2021, Russia has 124 million Internet users, and the Internet penetration rate is as high as 84.35%. The scale of the e-commerce market is also as high as 4.1 trillion rubles, an increase of more than 50% year-on-year, ranking the twelfth largest e-commerce market in the world. Russia is gradually emerging as a new blue ocean market in the cross-border e-commerce industry.
Currently, OZON is headquartered in Shenzhen and plans to attract more than 100,000 Chinese sellers to the platform in 2024. This move will further promote the vigorous development of the Russian e-commerce market. It is expected that by 2024, the scale of the Russian e-commerce market is expected to exceed 100 billion US dollars, and the turnover of Chinese sellers is expected to increase 10 times. OZON plans not only to attract high-quality Chinese sellers, but also to create an overseas warehouse model, optimize the logistics system, and improve delivery time, so as to enhance consumer loyalty.
Given the vast territory of Russia, OZON has invested huge resources in logistics. The company has built more than 1.5 million square meters of warehouses and more than 24,000 product pick-up points, covering major cities throughout Russia. Simon Huang, CEO of OZON Global China, said that the FBO model will be opened for Chinese sellers in the first quarter of next year, and a real official warehouse in China will be established to deliver goods to Russian buyers through carriers to further improve delivery efficiency.
OZON’s advantage lies in the superposition of many factors. First, the Russian e-commerce market is growing rapidly, with an annual growth rate of more than 20% in the past four years. Secondly, 90% of the goods sold on the OZON platform come from China, which fully meets Russia’s demand for Chinese products. In addition, although the number of Chinese sellers active on the OZON platform is less than 10,000, there is still huge growth potential, while the penetration rate of the Russian e-commerce market is only 13%, which has huge room for development.
It is worth noting that OZON also has certain requirements for sellers to enter, including business license, email and mobile phone number, real person authentication, etc. These requirements are intended to ensure that merchants on the platform have certain legal business qualifications and credibility.
To sum up, OZON, as a newcomer in Russian e-commerce, has attracted the attention of international sellers with its strong development momentum and comprehensive advantages. With the vigorous development of the Russian e-commerce market, OZON is bound to continue to become a rising star in the cross-border e-commerce industry, bringing more business opportunities and chances to international sellers.