Chinese e-commerce powerhouse JD.com, has announced its expansion into the Russian market. The move comes at a time of regular reports of business deals between China and Russia.
Selling everything from clothes to computers JD.com is one of the Chinese online retailers looking to expand worldwide. They want to use local partners to compete in the Russian market.
"We decided that it would be useful, from the point of view of marketing, from the point of view of advertising technology, from the point of view of promoting internet services, with JD.com in Russia," said Aleksandr Mamut, head of Rambler and Co.
The Russia launch comes on the company's 12th anniversary and the first anniversary of its IPO.
Some of JD.com's top executives have come to one of Moscow's upmarket hotels to launch into the Russian market. The company presented its plans for the launch.
JD.com has arrived in Russia after its competitor Alibaba. That's not a problem though, says the Head of JD.com Russia.
"I think it's different. It's a different question because we have a different business model. You know we are most like Amazon and Alibaba is purely an e-commerce enabler or marketplace model," said Viktor Xu, head of JD.com Russia.
The company says that the launch will mark a new era of economic partnership between Russia and China based on mutual investments.
