Ozon will register on the Russian Post – Newspaper Kommersant No. 69 (7514) dated 04/20/2023

Increasing competition between large marketplaces to expand the network of pickup points for goods is forcing them to involve state-owned companies in the delivery process, which have the entire infrastructure for this. So, Ozon is launching a project with the Russian Post, which at the first stage is ready to open marketplace points for issuing orders in 600 branches, and by next year – to increase their number to 22.5 thousand. This will allow Ozon to overtake its closest competitor in this indicator — wildberries. In many large cities, the opening of new points for online platforms is limited due to their large number, therefore, according to experts, Internet companies are forced to go to remote regions.

In 600 branches of the Russian Post in 50 regions of the country, it will now be possible to pick up orders made on Ozon, the parties told Kommersant. Post offices working all week for at least eight hours a day will be able to connect to the partner network. Earlier, Post already began to cooperate with the marketplace in terms of issuing orders from foreign sellers of Ozon Global, as well as delivery to remote locations where the online platform does not have its own logistics.

The Russian Post added that the company could potentially increase the number of branches with the option of issuing orders made on the marketplace to 22.5 thousand by next year. Ozon says that the final decision on scaling the project will depend on the results of the first stage of connection to the issuance of orders from 600 branches.

Today, Ozon has more than 18,000 pick-up points (PIUs) across the country. If the entire project is implemented jointly with Russian Post, the number of pickup points will exceed 40,000. In parallel, the marketplace continues to open its own pickup points. For comparison, Ozon’s closest competitor, Wildberries, now has about 30,000 pickup points, most of which are managed by partners. Wildberries told Kommersant that they continue to open new pickup points independently and in partnership with small businesses.

Large online platforms have serious competition for opening new pickup points, states Mikhail Burmistrov, CEO of Infoline-Analytics. This allows marketplaces to expand the geography of delivery and, accordingly, increase the volume of orders. At the same time, according to Mr. Burmistrov, Ozon and Wildberries have a high pick-up point coverage in some cities, due to which further opening of their own pick-up points in these locations may be limited. This has already led to the fact that in 2022 in large cities the growth rate of demand for the purchase of franchises of pickup points under the signs of all marketplaces increased by only 23% year-on-year, although at the height of the pandemic this figure was much higher (see “Kommersant” from 6 February).

Data Insight partner Boris Ovchinnikov notes that the Russian Post has branches in many towns and villages where there is a potential demand for online purchases, but its volume may not be enough to open a separate payable pickup point. At the same time, the expert adds, Ozon has the opportunity to expand the geography of its presence using the existing infrastructure of the Russian Post. According to him, it will be possible to increase the popularity of delivery to post offices by speeding up delivery times, canceling or significantly reducing its cost.

Branches of the Russian Post already today partially fulfill the functionality of the pickup point in terms of issuing parcels from online stores, recalls Ivan Kurguzov, executive director of Oborot.ru. However, the expert points out that in the case of a partnership with Ozon, the functionality of the Russian Post will include processes for registering unpurchased goods or returning them to sellers, which may complicate the work of some branch employees.

In the second half of 2022, the share of marketplaces in the volume of sales in the online commerce market for the first time exceeded 50%, noted in Data Insight. According to analysts, the total volume of this market in 2022 grew by 38% year-on-year, to RUB 5.7 trillion.

Alina Savitskaya