E-commerce in Russia: In 2009, the market size amounted to 150 billion rubles.
At a joint press event, Mail.Ru and Molotok.Ru discussed the prospects for e-commerce development in Russia, the entry of major international internet players into the Russian e-commerce market, and both companies' projects in this area.
The discussion featured Oleg Ilyichev, Vice President of Mail.Ru; Igor Karpachev, CEO of Molotok.Ru; Pavel Tokarev, COO of Molotok.Ru; and Nailya Zamashkina, Head of Development for the Dengi@Mail.Ru payment system (http://money.mail.ru). Ivan Kurguzov, Executive Director of the Oborot.Ru project, spoke as an independent expert on e-commerce issues.
The e-commerce market in Russia is rapidly growing. Oborot.ru experts estimate its volume in 2009 at 150 billion rubles. Forecasts predict robust growth in 2010, likely exceeding the previous year's figures.
"Now is a very promising time for new internet projects, including international ones, to enter the market. But they still need to attract a team of Russian managers familiar with local realities and understanding what it takes to become a significant player," noted Ivan Kurguzov, Executive Director of Oborot.Ru.
One of the most popular questions among journalists was about Molotok.Ru and Mail.Ru's possible plans to use the Dengi@Mail.Ru payment system within the trading platform. "Currently, Molotok.Ru and Mail.Ru are discussing in detail the possibility of using the Dengi@Mail.Ru service as Molotok.Ru's payment system," said Nailya Zamashkina, head of payment system development at Dengi@Mail.Ru.
"Over the past year, we've achieved a significant increase in website traffic and the number of successfully completed transactions. But we're confident this isn't the limit, as the Russian e-commerce market still has room to grow. We expect to remain one of its largest players and create the most comfortable conditions for sellers and buyers," said Igor Karpachev, CEO of Molotok.Ru.
"One of the key events of 2009 for Mail.Ru in terms of e-commerce was the launch of our own payment system, Money@Mail.Ru, which immediately began to actively conquer the market. We see great interest in this project and are constantly launching new useful features. I believe Money@Mail.Ru has every opportunity to become one of the top three market leaders in the foreseeable future," added Oleg Ilyichev, Vice President of Mail.Ru.
About the companies:
Mail.Ru is a leading Russian company in online communications and entertainment. Its key asset is the RuNet's main communications portal. It includes the largest free email service in Russia and the CIS, the leading Russian instant messenger Mail.Ru Agent, the national social network Moi Mir@Mail.Ru, the search engine Poisk@Mail.Ru, and many other resources.
Mail.Ru is also a leader in online gaming, controlling over 50% of the Russian market by value. The company publishes over 40 online gaming projects in Russia, Europe, and Asia, including popular in-house titles such as Three Kingdoms, Legend: Legacy of the Dragons, and Allods Online, as well as successful international licenses such as Perfect World and The Lord of the Rings Online.
Mail.Ru has 8 Russian offices - in Moscow, St. Petersburg, Yekaterinburg, Nizhny Novgorod, Novosibirsk, Chelyabinsk, Samara and Kazan, as well as representative offices in Ukraine (Kyiv) and Germany (Hamburg).
Molotok.ru is Russia's largest marketplace, where everything is sold and bought with pleasure! Molotok.ru today attracts 200,000 visitors daily and offers hundreds of thousands of products from tens of thousands of stores, companies, and individual sellers. Molotok.ru guarantees secure shopping and offers convenient payment and delivery services throughout Russia, the CIS, and abroad.
