Russian e-commerce giant Ozon opens Chinese headquarters in Shenzhen to expand cooperation with Chinese sellers

Ozon , Russia's leading e-commerce platform , plans to strengthen its influence in the Chinese market, attract more Chinese merchants to join the platform, and provide Russian consumers with a richer selection of goods. Ozon Global plans to attract more than 100,000 Chinese sellers by 2024 and increase the turnover from Chinese sellers by 10 times.

On November 21, 2022 , Ozon Global announced the opening of its China headquarters office in Shenzhen to provide services to Chinese sellers in many categories . China is one of the most important markets for Ozon Global to develop international trade , and it is also the main source of imported goods for Ozon consumers . Currently , about 90% of the products in Ozon Global's cross-border business come from Chinese sellers, and the number of active sellers exceeds 10,000. At the same time, the turnover of Chinese sellers is also showing a rapid growth trend: GMV in the third quarter of 2022 was four times that of the same period last year.

Currently, Russia has a large demand for Chinese products. As a manufacturing powerhouse, China has a rich product range and attractive price advantages. The most popular orders are usually electronic products - smartphones, laptops and computer parts , as well as small appliances and clothing. Among them, Chinese brands such as Xiaomi, Neatsvor, Huawei, Honor, MSI and Asus are the most popular among Russian consumers .

Simon Huang , head of Ozon China , has 10 years of experience in cross-border trade and e-commerce in the United States, India and China . Simon said that he will lead his team to help Chinese brands and sellers enter the Russian market more efficiently and conveniently, and help sellers complete fulfillment in a faster time through continuous improvement of platform services, thereby improving the experience of Russian consumers. "China is both a leader and a promoter in the field of global e-commerce. In the first half of 2022 alone, China's cross-border e-commerce market reached $1 trillion," said Simon . "Developing business in China will bring Ozon a significant increase in the number of high-quality brands and sellers , and expand the product categories and SKUs on the platform. Our first priority is to remove the barriers for Chinese sellers to enter the Russian market and provide sellers with high-quality logistics warehousing, financial payment, and marketing promotion services to help them quickly expand their platform e-commerce business. I hope to use my experience in cross-border trade and e-commerce in various countries to help Ozon Global's business reach a new level and make Ozon the main channel for Chinese goods to be sold to Russia . "

Currently, Ozon Global has launched a convenient integrated logistics service from China to Russia, which has shortened the overseas fulfillment time by nearly half. This new fulfillment model allows Chinese sellers to ship from almost any province in China, and Russian buyers can pick up goods at more than 24,000 product pick-up points across the country , which is faster and more convenient.

About Ozon Global

Ozon Global is Ozon's international business department, responsible for cross-border trade cooperation with international sellers . Ozon Global has helped more than 12,000 sellers from 45 countries sell their products to millions of consumers in Russia . Currently, Ozon Global mainly serves sellers from countries and regions such as China, Turkey, Kazakhstan, Belarus, India, South Korea, Israel, Moldova and Thailand . In 2021, Ozon localized its business in Kazakhstan and Belarus and began to build a market platform and its own logistics infrastructure in the region. In 2022, Ozon opened representative offices in Turkey and China to expand cooperation with local sellers .

Q&A

Q: What experience does the President of Ozon Global China have in the field of e-commerce ?

A: Simon came to Ozon Global with 10 years of experience in cross-border trade and e-commerce in the United States, India and China . He began his career in a family office in the United States as an investment manager and project director. In 2013, he moved to Silicon Valley to start his own e-commerce company, which was acquired by GlowRoad six years later. After the acquisition , he joined GlowRoad as a partner and general manager of China. Within a year, he successfully helped the company's business grow 8 times. GlowRoad was later acquired by Amazon and became part of Amazon's social e-commerce business strategy. In August 2020, Simon took up the position of Vice President of International and Cross-border Business of Youzan, a Chinese SaaS e-commerce company.

Q: What are Ozon’s key product categories ?

A: Russian consumers have a strong demand for Chinese goods , ranging from home appliances to smartphones and computer parts to clothing and daily necessities , accounting for 90% of Ozon Global's total orders. We plan to attract as many new sellers from China as possible to meet consumers ' growing demand for popular products from China.

Q: What functions will Ozon China perform? What services will it provide to Chinese sellers ?

A: Ozon China will be responsible for recruiting new sellers and providing support and services to sellers . We will provide Chinese customer service, hold online and offline training sessions and private board meetings, and use Global University to help more Chinese sellers.

Q: Is Ozon Global's business in China growing?

A: We began to expand our cooperation with Chinese sellers at the end of 2020 , and since then, Ozon Global's business in China has grown rapidly. According to the results of the second quarter of 2022, Ozon Global's business in China has grown 14 times compared with the second quarter of 2021, and the number of orders processed has increased 26 times. This high growth stems from our investment layout at the end of 2020 and the continuous development of business infrastructure.

Q: How do sellers ship from China to Russia?

A: Currently, Chinese sellers have two shipping options : shipping through an international logistics service of their choice or choosing the services provided by Ozon's "Logistics Partner". We introduced the "Logistics Partner" service because the international logistics services selected by merchants themselves cannot cover all regions of Russia , and there are certain communication and pricing opacity - related issues, which prevent sellers from correctly calculating shipping costs. In order to reduce the burden on sellers and the threshold for opening a store , we launched the " Logistics Partner " service for goods from overseas in 2021. Thanks to the new delivery method, Ozon Global is involved in every stage of the delivery process from China to Russia, and consumers can track the progress of each package on their personal accounts. The benefits of this model for sellers include lower shipping costs, traceable logistics tracks , and customer service support from Ozon Global.

Q: How long does it take for the product to arrive from China?

A: The average delivery time for Ozon Global's logistics partners is 20 days. For non-partner logistics companies, the cycle may be one month or longer.

Q: Does Ozon plan to develop logistics infrastructure in China?

In the near future, we will focus on attracting new Chinese sellers to expand the range of goods on our platform. Our plan is to provide Chinese sellers with the necessary support to enable them to reach a large group of buyers in the Russian market.

Q: What currencies can Chinese sellers use to receive payments?

A: Sellers in China can receive payments in USD or RMB .

Q: How many Chinese sellers are currently selling their products on Ozon?

A: The number of sellers on Ozon Global is increasing. At the end of the second quarter of 2022, the number of active sellers exceeded 10,000, 18 times that of the same period in 2021. This high growth stems from our investment layout at the end of 2020 and the continuous development of business infrastructure , as well as the growing demand for Chinese products among Russian consumers.

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