EBay plans to continue its expansion in Russia by opening a platform for small- and medium-sized retailers starting next year, news agency Interfax reported Thursday.
The online auction house expects to attract Russian retailers eager to tap Russia's growing e-commerce sector, particularly electronics and clothing retailers that already form the backbone of online sales, the agency quoted eBay's Russia chief, Vladimir Dolgov, as saying.
EBay currently has no plans to host individual sellers, he said.
In September, eBay opened its doors to some of Russia's biggest retailers, including Wikimart, Russia's answer to Amazon, E5, "220 Volt" and Sela, in a move to focus on domestic retail and skirt time-consuming cross-border deliveries and duties.
EBay opened shop in Russia in 2010. By the end last year the company was taking in 90,000 orders a day from Russian shoppers.
Despite economic sanctions and tense relations with the United States, Russia continues to be eBay's "No. 1 priority for global expansion," the company's vice president, Wendy Jones, told Reuters in July.
