(
Xinhua) 16:23, January 05, 2014
Email|
Print|
Comments twitter facebook Sina Microblog reddit BEIJING, Jan. 5 (Xinhua) -- Shopping fan Marina Kobylenko Viktorovna, who lives inRussia's Kaluga, is delighted after receiving her goods she bought online from China.
She bought decorations and gifts for her family for New Year.
Marina, 34, loves buying products on Taobao.com, China's leading online shoppingplatform. She has been buying products for five years. She buys clothes, bags, decorativeitems, toys and electronic goods about once a month.
"Chinese commodities are cheap and of good quality. All I need to do is sit in front of acomputer, find what I want, and click," she says.
The light goods industry in Russia is not well developed, while China boasts lots of productswith price advantages, says Xiao Haikun, a public relations officer with Alibaba, parentcompany of Taobao.com.
The number of Russians buying goods from China, especially the young, has beenincreasing. Statistics from Taobao.com show that about 2 million U.S. dollars worth ofgoods were sent to Russia through the platform in February last year. The figure doubledin May.
Clothes, shoes, bags, mobile phones, tablets and household items are popular with Russianshoppers, Xiao points out.
Strategies on how to shop online from China are available on Russian website forums.
Russians are told that shops in Guangzhou and Shanghai are better for clothes and shoes,while retailers in Shenzhen offer a wide variety when it comes to electronic appliances.
Google translate allows Russians to better understand strengths and weaknesses ofproducts they are buying.
Russian agents help shoppers buy goods online and profit from service fees or buying lowand selling high. Consumers do not have to worry about cross-border payment andlogistics.
On Russia's largest social networking website VK, if you input the word "taobao", 4,600groups appear. Each group has 300 to 300,000 members.
Aleksey Kolmuayev, 36, who lives in Yekaterinburg, is an agent.
"It usually takes the mail system about a month to transport goods from China to Russia,but now it takes about two weeks as I have been working with a logistics company. Ifshoppers do not receive their goods, I refund them," he says.
Ivan Davidovich Karakhan runs a shop in Kolpino, a suburb of St Petersburg. Onlineshopping has saved him a lot of money as he rarely needs to fly to Beijing to buy goods.
Increasingly, businesspeople are replacing flights between China and Russia with a click ofthe mouse.
A logistics base in Suifenhe, northeast China's Heilongjiang Province, is being built. It willcover 25,000 square meters and is expected to boost logistics between the two countries.
However, booming e-commerce has led to fewer Russian tourists coming to shop in China,argues Shi Xiaoxing, manager of east Russian regions with China International TravelService Limited.
China-Russia trade in Jan.-Nov. stood at 81 billion U.S. dollars, up 0.5 percent year onyear. But the growth rate was about 10 percentage points lower year on year, according toChina's General Administration of Customs.
（Editor：intern1、Hongyu）
Related reading
Hot words reveal China's online carnivalTaobao to help smaller vendors expand on shopping siteTaobao opens China's first e-commerce funds platformTaobao steps up fight against fake LVTaobao takes stringent measures to prevent sales of counterfeit goods'Taobao Villages' spark China's rural economyOnline service to gain more ground in financial marketChina's Taobao to sell fund products in SeptemberTaobao fund platform may debut before OctoberFeng shui practitioner now sells spells onlineWe RecommendChinese Consulate General in S.F. burned for arson attackRoar of J-15 fighter is melody for operator on the LiaoningA 90-year-old forester's four decadesMost touching moments in 20132013: Joys and sorrows of world politiciansMissile destroyer Zhengzhou commissioned to Chinese navyChina is technically ready to explore MarsPhoto story: Life changed by mobile technologyBullet train attendants' Christmas EveName:
