PRESS: Russian econ ministry plans to launch Alibaba analogue

MOSCOW, Apr 8 (PRIME) -- Russia’s Economic Development Ministry has worked out a project of a domestic analogue of China’s Alibaba, an Internet floor to export goods abroad, whose creation was ordered by President Vladimir Putin in 2015, business daily Kommersant reported Friday.

The government will choose a company-aggregator to promote Russian products worldwide, including on such sites as AliExpress and JD, and Amazon and eBay, the ministry said.

The ministry’s document describes formation of “a single environment for exporters,” which will unite promotion, customs, logistics, payment and other services, required to sell goods online both inside the country and abroad.

The idea is based on a company-aggregator, an Internet floor, which will become “a single window” allowing Russian producers to enter world markets. The ministry cites as an example goods aggregator Yandex.Market, and online retailers Ulmart and Wikimart.

The document reads that domestic floors should integrate with big foreign peers, like AliExpress, Amazon, eBay, JD.com and others “in order to promote Russian goods on international markets”.

According to the ministry, the Russian Export Center will be in charge or a pool of exporters and assist in standardization and certification of products before directing manufacturers to the aggregator.

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