In light of online retailer Asos announcing the launch of its business in Russia, retail-week.com writer Tiffany Holland has come forward to support the decision.
The company has six million customers across the UK, US, France, Germany and Australia, but is looking to add to that total by offering its service to web users in China and Russia.
China is widely considered to be a safe haven for ecommerce retailers due to its sheer amount of mobile device owners. Asos’s decision to move into Russia on the other hand might raise more than a few eyebrows among its competitors.
Still, Ms Holland says the firm has nothing to fear with its venture, as new research from OC&C Strategy consultants reveals the country’s online retail market is currently worth £5.6 billion. This amount is set to double by the end of 2020 – reaching £11.5 billion and hoisting Russia into the world’s most valuable ecommerce markets.
Ms Holland sought feedback from Anita Balchandani, a partner at OC&C Strategy, who says Russia’s ecommerce market will evolve into quite a force once it’s matured.
“It is a high growth market for fashion ecommerce and will be among the top countries to be targeted because Russia is still switching habits to ecommerce,” she commented.
Meanwhile, Ms Holland said Russia is often viewed as a market that’s hard to crack due to its size. This may have deterred retailers from offering online payment processing and product delivery to Russia in the past, but Asos clearly believes there is plenty of potential in the country as a marketplace.
As reported by telegraph.co.uk, sensible business moves have enabled the company to post an underlying pre-tax profit of £25.7 million over the six months to February 28. This is up from £23.1 million in the same period between 2011-12 and the company will be hoping to increase this revenue when it moves into new markets.
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