Alibaba Russia’s Director General, Mark Zavadsky, said on Monday that the company has plans to expand its business in Russia.
He told reporters, “Of course, we are planning to expand our presence in Russia, on different directions. First, we are planning to work much more with local Russian companies.”
Alibaba has three-phase strategy for Russia
Zavadsky recalled that at the St. Petersburg International Economic Forum (SPIEF) in June, CEO Jack Ma outlined the company’s strategy for Russia. It will have three phases, and the shipment of goods from China to Russia is the first. Zavadsky added that the company has already seen sufficient progress in this aspect and is working on the second phase: delivering within Russia.
“These are [both] Russian goods and those Chinese products, which are delivered as a B2B to partnership depots, and continue their way across Russia,” he said.
Zavadsky said there are many such pilot projects with major vendors importing to Russia in the B2B format and then selling from depots in Russia. This, ultimately, helps in making delivery faster, noted Zavadsky. Delivery from Russia worldwide is the third stage of development, the executive said.
In September, Alibaba plans to launch a pilot project allowing Russian companies to send goods to China under the simplified customs clearance, Zavadsky said.
Financial branch also to enter Russia
Alipay, the company’s financial branch now known as Ant Financial Services Group, also intends to enter the Russian micro crediting market, according to TASS. The service is looking for the right partner in Russia so as to intensify operations in the country.
Alibaba’s expansion is in line with the company’s plans of expanding its businesses abroad, more specifically, in Russia. Zavadsky said at a press conference that the company intends to work much more with local Russian companies. Also it aims to reduce the delivery time to Russian mega-cities to between five and seven days. The possibility exists of reducing delivery dispatches to as little as four days to selected destinations within the country, the company claims.
In premarket trading today, Alibaba shares were in the green. Year to date, the stock is up almost 4%, while in the last year, it is up more than 7%. The stock has a 52-week high of $86.42 and a 52-week low of $57.20. Alibaba’s revenue amounted to more than $15.3 billion for the year ended in March.
Photo by Andy_Mitchell_UK
