eBay has renewed its commitment to developing eBay Russia by appointing a big hitter to head up its Russian team. Vladimir Dolgov, formerly head of Google in Russia, was previously the chief executive at Ozon, Russia’s biggest online retailer.
Although Russia constitutes the biggest online audience, eBay has thus far been unable to make serious progress. Last year, Russia overtook Germany to become the biggest national audience in Europe in terms of users and that looks set to continue: internet penetration is only 40%. Ecommerce is also growing strongly: in 2011 online sales grew 30% to 320 billion roubles (more than £6bn).
Russian ecommerce, rather like China, has been dominated by local firms and foreign businesses have not proved popular. As many eBayers will also attest, whether buying or selling, there are fraud concerns when dealing with Russia. Credit card fraud is also rife.
eBay said in a statement: “Vladimir’s appointment in the newly-created position reflects the increasing importance of the Russian market to eBay, and demonstrates eBay’s commitment to growing its business in Russia.”
One Response
The main problem is massive delays in customs, paypal chargebacks (as parcels show on Royal Mail as not signed for – when they have been). Its just too risky dealing in Russia, until these things are addressed.
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