REC Opens First Online Exhibition of Russian Products on Alibaba.com

Moscow (Sputnik) – The Russian Export Centre (REC) has opened the first online exhibition of goods from Russia on the Alibaba.com portal, REC reports. The exhibition was planned within the framework of SPIEF-2021.

“Today the opening ceremony of the exhibition took place on the largest online-portal, Alibaba.com (a member of Alibaba Group), a platform for wholesalers and buyers,” the report reads.

“REC has been actively working with Alibaba Group for three years to make it easier for Russian exporters to enter the very promising but very complex Chinese market. Therefore, REC helps Russian companies to enter Alibaba.com, B2B marketplace. We have launched a national shop of Russian products on the in-country platform Tmall.com to help Russian suppliers sell goods retail,” Veronika Nikishina, REC's CEO said at the opening.

She also added that "together with our partners we ensure the involvement of Chinese leading bloggers in order to sell Russian goods via steaming on their channels, which can increase sales several times and, in general, introduce Russian products to Chinese consumers. This year we have made a new step, testing a new format of cooperation: from 4 to 17 October, the first online exhibition of Russian products will be held on Alibaba.com. During these two weeks, the number of displays of the page with Russian goods and services is expected to increase three to four times. It means that Russian companies will gain maximum attention. REC creates new opportunities and attractive conditions for exporters, and we are sure that they will be able to take advantage of them," Nikishina added.

“The COVID-19 pandemic has changed our lives and the way we do our jobs. The distance between people has increased, but at the same time, people have realised the power of e-commerce and technology. The pandemic has accelerated digitisation and changed the model of export business... According to the latest WTO (World Trade Organisation) forecasts, global exports will increase by 8% in 2021. This is the largest increase in the past 10 years. And the main growth is expected to be in the B2B segment. On the basis of this forecast, we can expect the overall growth of online business in B2B to reach 28% in the next three years,” Andrew Zheng, deputy general manager of Alibaba.com, noted.

More than 500 Russian exporting companies will present their products during the exhibition. These companies include both well-known brands and small firms from various industries, ranging from medical or fitness equipment to hand-made candles and cosmetics.