"Declaring war" on Amazon, Russian e-commerce giant WB opens three more European sites

According to foreign media reports on the 24th, Wildberries (hereinafter referred to as "WB"), one of Russia's e-commerce giants, stated that it will enter France, Italy and Spain to compete with Amazon in the European market.

The editor found through searching domain names that the French site wildberries.fr and the Italian site it.wildberries.eu have been quietly launched.

Deployed in eight European countries and openly declared war on Amazon

WB was founded in 2004 by Tatyana Bakalchuk, a 28-year-old Russian female entrepreneur, while on maternity leave. WB has no board of directors and has not sought external investment. The company is run by Bakalchuk alone, and she holds 99% of the company's shares.

WB founder Tatyana Bakalchuk (Photo source: Forbes)

As we all know, Amazon does not have a Russian site . Before AliExpress entered Russia, most of the top players in local e-commerce were Russian local companies. After years of hard work, WB stood out and became the largest e-commerce company in Russia. Data shows that WB's turnover in 2020 reached 437.2 billion rubles (about 38.4 billion yuan).

Last year, WB entered the European market, launching sites in Poland, Slovakia, Ukraine and Israel. In January this year, WB launched a site in Germany. With the addition of the three new sites, WB has now established presence in eight European countries, hoping to compete with Amazon.

Bakalchuk said in an interview that two years ago she was surprised to find that WB's top seller, L'Oreal, had 400 times more sales on Amazon than WB, and realized that WB was just a "nobody" and "had a lot to fight for ." Today, the gap has narrowed to 70 times.

She believes that this data is a good indicator of the potential of Russia's overseas e-commerce market. According to Statista data, by 2025, the e-commerce scale in France, Spain and Italy is expected to reach US$72.275 billion, US$29.607 billion and US$29.607 billion respectively.

The largest e-commerce market segments in these three countries are fashion, which is also what WB is best at and sells best. Data shows that in WB's product access data in the first half of 2020, fashion products such as clothing, shoes and accessories accounted for 70% of the total.

Stronger in crisis

It takes enough courage and ability to openly declare war on Amazon, and Bakalchuk is such a person. Since its establishment, WB has experienced three major crises. Each crisis has made the founder and WB's business capabilities stronger.

During the 2008 financial crisis , Bakalchuk snapped up excess inventory from global fashion brands and resold it to Russian female consumers. When the ruble plummeted in 2014 , WB partnered with more local manufacturers and charged sellers storage and distribution fees, expanding the product categories on the platform. The spread of the epidemic in 2020 , a large number of sellers flocked to the online platform, forcing WB to speed up its outsourcing logistics plan, and its turnover almost doubled last year to 38.4 billion yuan.

With last year's full sprint, WB successfully occupied 14% of the Russian e-commerce market . Bakalchuk also successfully topped the list of Russia's richest female entrepreneurs . According to Forbes real-time data, her assets are estimated at $13.1 billion , 10 times more than the second-place Elena Baturina.

The Russian market is full of challenges. What are WB's advantages?

Other well-known e-commerce platforms in the Russian market include AliExpress Russia, Ozon, which successfully went public in the United States, and Yandex.Market, owned by Russian technology giant Yandex. These are all financially strong competitors , but it is difficult for them to catch up with WB.

Bakalchuk said that one of WB's advantages is that it established close relationships with small Russian producers when the ruble plummeted in 2014 , which increased sellers' trust in the platform. Under the impact of the epidemic, more sellers have settled in WB.

As of now, the number of sellers on WB has exceeded 100,000 . The number of sellers on AliExpress Russia (Russian sellers only), Ozon and Yandex.Market are 35,000, 18,000 and 7,300 respectively.

Another advantage of WB is its perfect logistics system. Boris Ovchinnikov, co-founder of Data Insight , said that WB has strong logistics, which is one of the reasons why many Russian consumers choose it.

Even so, WB still faces huge challenges in the Russian market . Not long ago, Russia's largest bank, SberBank, acquired Goods, a small Russian e-commerce platform, preparing to expand into the local market.

The relationship between e-commerce and finance has become increasingly inseparable. In response, WB recently acquired a small bank in Moscow . Bakalchuk said: "The market is growing and serious competitors are entering the market." Russia's e-commerce war has just begun .

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