VIRTUAL MARKETPLACES: RUSSIA
Maria Konovalova / Jana Melkumova-Reynolds
Wildberries, one of Russia’s oldest and largest e-tail platforms that sells tens of thousands of apparel, household and electronics brands including premium fashion labels such as Joop!, GUESS, Tommy Hilfiger, Calvin Klein, Just Cavalli and others, is launching free courses in online trading to help the increasing flow of entrepreneurs to accelerate the process of digitizing their business and adjusting it to the platform. Wildberries operates in Russia, Belarus, Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, Armenia and, since the beginning of this year, Poland and Slovakia. It offers a fixed commission of 15%. Brands pay separately for delivery and return of each item.
Their key competitor is Lamoda (currently calling itself ‘Ladoma’ – a word play that hints at the Russian word for ‘at home’). Originally a fashion-only own-buy store and marketplace whose brand mix includes Diadora, Levi’s, adidas by Stella McCartney and Barbara Bui, it boasts 16.1 million visits per month. Lately, it has been positioning itself as a lifestyle platform that offers entertainment content as well as clothes and footwear. Setting up an account with a dedicated manager takes under a week. One of the special projects the company launched recently is a series of sport and fitness sessions, delivered by famous trainers in collaboration with sportswear brands, aimed at boosting sales of activewear.
KupiVip, a retailer selling discounted fashion and home goods from high-street and luxury brands, has become a fully fledged FMCG (fast-moving consumer goods) marketplace and launched a quarantine program to support fashion brands. Among other things, it now offers fixed commissions, a higher pricing flexibility and the use of its photo studio. Setting up an account takes less than three days.