On November 17, the seventh meeting of the China-Russia Investment Cooperation Committee was successfully held. It was stated at the meeting that it is necessary to seize new opportunities and encourage enterprises of the two countries to carry out cooperation in areas such as digital economy and anti-epidemic.
Russian First Deputy Prime Minister Belousov affirmed the steady progress of key Sino-Russian investment cooperation projects including the AliExpress Russia e-commerce platform.
AliExpress Russia is a joint venture company established by Alibaba and its Russian partners, including the business of AliExpress, Alibaba’s cross-border e-commerce platform, in Russia. In the past year, the project has actively promoted the development of Russia’s digital economy and further promoted e-commerce to become a new growth point in China-Russia economic and trade cooperation.
During Tmall Double 11 this year, Russians were enthusiastic about online shopping. AliExpress and Cainiao dispatched more than 130 charter flights to transport more than 16 million packages from China to Russia. At the same time, the overseas warehouses deployed by AliExpress in Russia have greatly improved the timeliness of logistics and are favored by Russian consumers. The turnover of overseas warehouse products accounted for the total GMV, setting a record in the past years.
AliExpress entered the Russian market in 2012 and has now become one of the most popular e-commerce platforms in the region. According to Wang Mingqiang, general manager of AliExpress, on AliExpress, on average, more than 700,000 parcels are sent to Russia every day, and 1 out of every 6 Russians uses AliExpress.
According to data from the Ali Research Institute, Russia is the most welcoming country for Chinese products among the countries along the “Belt and Road”.
From the Black Sea to a small town 250 miles north of the Arctic Circle, you can receive packages from Chinese merchants on AliExpress. From cars to false eyelashes, from LED fishing lights to ballet shoes, AliExpress products have become an indispensable part of Russian life.
As the largest local e-commerce company, AliExpress is not only loved by local people, but also uses Alibaba’s technology, data and cloud service capabilities to help Russia build e-commerce infrastructure such as logistics and payment.
In 2016, AliExpress introduced Russia’s successful rookie logistics model in China, cooperated with local Russian companies, and helped some powerful Chinese companies set up warehouses in Russia, reducing the time limit for cross-border logistics from China to Russia from a few years ago. 60 days, shortened to an average of 10-15 days.
Through the e-commerce infrastructure built, AliExpress has further promoted the development of local e-commerce in Russia. In March, when the epidemic was severe, AliExpress launched a series of measures to support local small and medium sellers to survive the epidemic, including stopping charging local sellers for sales, opening AliExpress’ overseas warehouses in Russia, and allowing merchants to store goods for 60 days for free. During the Tmall Double 11 promotion period this year, the turnover of local Russian merchants increased significantly compared to 2019, and the turnover of Russian small and medium-sized merchants increased by 11 times year-on-year.
Russia’s e-commerce started relatively late, but developed rapidly. Especially affected by the epidemic this year, the Russian e-commerce market has shown “explosive growth”, with a month-on-month increase of 1.5 times in March. From January to June this year, the scale of online transactions in Russia reached 1.654 trillion rubles, and the proportion of e-commerce retail sales to the total retail sales of consumer goods exceeded 10% for the first time.
The changes brought about by e-commerce have made the Russian government firm in its determination to develop a digital economy. In recent years, from the government to the corporate world, the whole of Russia has shown great enthusiasm for learning from China’s digital economy solutions, which is evidenced by the deepening of cooperation with Chinese companies like Alibaba.
In an interview with Chinese media in 2018, Russian President Putin took the initiative to mention that he was deeply impressed by China’s e-commerce achievements. During the Fourth Eastern Economic Forum, Putin publicly stated that the Russian government will fully support the development of Alibaba in Russia. Soon after, Alibaba signed an agreement to establish a joint venture with its Russian partner. In November 2019, China and Russia included the joint venture project in the list of key Sino-Russian investment cooperation projects.
2020-2021 is the “Sino-Russian Year of Scientific and Technological Innovation”. It is in the interests of both China and Russia to vigorously promote e-commerce cooperation and tap new growth points in bilateral trade. “I hope that through cross-border e-commerce, technology can empower the Russian people to live a better life, and also contribute to the development of Sino-Russian bilateral economic and trade!” said Wang Mingqiang, general manager of AliExpress.
Alibaba AliExpress was founded in 2010, and the number of overseas buyers has exceeded 150 million, covering more than 220 countries and regions around the world. AliExpress ranks first in downloads of shopping apps in more than 100 countries around the world, and is China’s only cross-border export retail platform covering all countries and regions of the “Belt and Road” initiative.