China-Russia e-commerce is booming, Russian post breaks records

In March of this year, Russian Post’s parcel processing volume reached a new high, which proves that Sino-Russian cross-border e-commerce is very prosperous

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Russia Post is a Russian state-owned enterprise. In March of this year, its international parcel processing volume reached a record high of 38 million pieces. It was able to create such a good result. The local emerging e-commerce platforms Joom and Pandao have indeed contributed. These two companies mainly sell products from China, and they have firmly established themselves in the Russian market.

The latest record of RUSSIAN Post has surpassed the highest processing volume in the past. For postal services around the world, the months leading up to Christmas are the busiest times each year. During this period, Russia Post recorded a record of handling 30 million parcels in a single month, but it was still not as good as the handling volume in March.

It is worth noting that in the first three months of this year, Russia Post processed 93.7 million parcels, a 35% increase over the same period last year, but only about 900,000 of them were shipped overseas from Russia. From this data, it can be seen that cross-border e-commerce delivery is a major factor in the surge in parcel handling.

Russian Post has recorded impressive results, and the contributions of Joom and Pandao cannot be ignored. The Hangzhou-based e-commerce giant AliExpress has been developing in Russia since 2015 and now has its own logistics team there. Joom and Pandao are rising stars, and delivery is mainly handled through Russian mail.

Although the merchants of the Joom and Pandao platforms are mainly from China, both are operated by Russian companies. Among them, Pandao was founded in September last year by Mail.ru, Russia’s oldest Internet company.

Recently, Pandao has actively promoted its business. The number of customers has increased significantly from about 400,000 in November last year to 5.5 million in March. Currently, 370,000 orders are processed daily. In Russia, Mail.ru is the Internet company with the second most users, second only to Yandex.ru. Some people believe that Mail.ru’s aggressive publicity is one of the reasons for Pandao’s success.

In recent years, with the development of e-commerce platforms such as AliExpress and JD.com in Russia, the volume of goods shipped from mainland China to Russia has also been increasing. Under this trend, many new freight routes have also emerged. For example, Heilongjiang and Jilin have land collection stations, and the number of Russian trucks going to the two places to pick up goods is increasing day by day; Xinjiang and Kazakh dry ports have first-of-its-kind transshipment facilities and are also close to customs control points, allowing goods to be quickly transported to Russia, Kazakhstan and other member states of the Eurasian Economic Union.

However, if Hong Kong companies intend to use e-commerce to enter the Russian market, Russian Post is still the best choice for delivery services. Russian Post can help Hong Kong companies enter other markets of the Eurasian Economic Union. Its Post Bank network provides cash on delivery service, which is popular with local online shoppers who are not good at technology. In addition, Post Bank also has another advantage, that is, it can handle UnionPay transactions in rubles and RMB.

On the other hand, KazPost is also a potential partner. Currently, Kazakhstan Post does not have a consolidating center in Asia, resulting in higher delivery costs and longer time. However, there is news that Kazakhstan Post is negotiating with the Chinese side to strive for the development of related facilities in one of the coastal cities in the mainland. With the implementation and development of China’s “One Belt One Road” initiative, Kazakhstan Post also intends to flex its muscles. Hong Kong businessmen may wish to pay more attention.