Russia’s post office: can’t keep up
Ecommerce is booming in Russia as more people hook up to the internet. But a corresponding surge in parcel volumes is straining the the old fashioned postal services to the limit and last week cost the head of the Russian post office his job. Continue reading »
China bird flu: business catches a cold
By Stefan Wagstyl in Hong Kong and Leslie Hook in Beijing
Chinese businesses from rural poultry farms to the luxury Shanghai Four Seasons hotel are beginning to feel the impact of a bird flu outbreak that has killed nine people.
Taobao Marketplace, the ecommerce platform of the Alibaba internet group, confirmed that as of Thursday it had banned online trading of live poultry in the Shanghai region. Continue reading »
Guest post: unlocking Brazil’s m-payment potential
By Jefferson Finch of Eurasia Group
The rapid spread of smartphones and mobile broadband networks in Brazil is grabbing the attention of policymakers keen on promoting financial inclusion, and of businesses seeing an opportunity to reach millions of new customers. Government officials and companies are looking to mobile payments (m-payments) as a means to achieving those ends.
So far, Brasília hasn’t adopted a coordinated approach and independent company efforts have met with varying success. But President Dilma Rousseff’s agenda for this year will move the needle in the right direction, laying the groundwork to bring millions of Brazilian consumers and entrepreneurs into the formal economy while upending sectors such as retail and financial services. Continue reading »
KupiVIP brings fashion sense to Russia’s internet
By Ben Aris of bne
What’s the point of belonging to the emerging middle class if you don’t look good? That’s the idea behind KupiVIP, Russia’s leading online fashion store, which expects annual revenues to reach a billion dollars by the end of the decade. Continue reading »
China: the Singles Day online boom
The once-a-year Singles Day in China is becoming a big event for both online shoppers and retailers, with some of the bigger sites such as those run by Alibaba offering 50 per cent off and seeing growth in sales explode.
The alternative to Valentine’s Day, which was started among Chinese college students and held on November 11 (as a numerical pun of four single digits) has now become mainstream – and very big. It is also causing something of a challenge for couriers and delivery companies in the mad rush. Continue reading »
Indonesian ecommerce hots up
As internet penetration and consumer spending grow rapidly in Indonesia, ecommerce in the country is starting to take off.
Indonesia’s unique geography – with 240m people spread over 6,000 islands stretching 3,000 miles east to west – poses big difficulties for online retailers but also big opportunities. Continue reading »
India: shop while you sit
When it comes to internet users, India is growing fast. While the number of internet users globally rose 7 per cent last year, the figure was 41 per cent in India.
And this is creating some interesting opportunities – not least for clothing retailers. Continue reading »
Ozon.ru: so far so good
By Ben Aris of bne
When Maelle Gavet (pictured) first arrived in Russia as a student in the days following the fall of the Soviet Union, the shops were empty and the phones didn’t work properly. Two decades on, she heads Russia’s leading e-commerce site Ozon.ru – Russia’s answer to Amazon.com – that is well on its way to turnover of $1bn a year. Continue reading »
Corporate watch: MercadoLibre leads in LatAm
Stelleo Tolda, chief operating officer of MercadoLibre, says he really didn’t think the company he helped launch in 1999 would grow to become Latin America’s largest online trading platform.
Thirteen years later, with 1,600 employees and almost 70m registered users, MercadoLibre – which means “free market” in Spanish – dominates ecommerce in the region, where it matches buyers with sellers and facilitates payments in 13 countries. Continue reading »
Russian ecommerce draws global private equity
By Nicholas Watson of bne
In yet another example of foreign investment finding its way into Russia’s promising ecommerce market, a group of private equity firms tells bne it has struck a deal to invest $45m to take a minority stake in B2B-Center, Russia’s largest online procurement player.
Private equity investors are particularly looking to the new generation of companies serving Russia’s promising online consumer and business-to-business markets, many of which have either become or are set to become Europe’s largest over the next few years. Continue reading »
Social gifting comes to Brazil
Walk into any internet café in Brazil – be it in São Paulo’s banking district or in one of Rio’s favelas – and you can bet that at least somebody will be on Facebook.
Take that into account, as well as the country’s national love of shopping and obsession with trying new stuff, and you have the perfect market for ecommerce apps. Continue reading »
EM ecommerce: without the plastic
What’s holding back ecommerce in EMs? Two answers normally crop up: a lack of reliable internet connections and a lack of credit and debit cards.
Well, perhaps not the second one so much. According to payment processing business Worldpay, alternative payments – ie those not involving credit or debit cards – are booming. And emerging markets are at the forefront. Continue reading »
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