Wildberries has grown to become Russia’s biggest online retailer, a monopoly that’s been able to push into Europe with ease thanks to its innovative business tactics.
While e-commerce giants like Amazon and Ali Express have long been successful in the country, Wildberries has taken a more individualized approach to growth. Instead of focusing on mass-market products, the company has carved out a niche for itself by supplying high-quality clothing and accessories.
The company operates a network of more than 14,700 collection points across Russia, each staffed by an attendant who flashes a code on your phone to allow you to try and return items. The collection centers are a key part of the company’s marketing strategy, which has allowed it to grow by more than ten times since 2004 and pushed it into the European market.
As a result, the company has developed close relationships with government officials and is often seen as a savior for the country’s struggling economy. It also focuses on selling branded products, a practice it believes will help it attract consumers and secure repeat orders.
Moreover, Wildberries has kept its office structure tight and low-stack, which has helped to shield it from deeper scrutiny than its rivals. It also allows the company to evade regulatory scrutiny, according to analysts who have studied it closely.
This has led to rumors that the company may have invested in unreported assets, a common complaint among investors. In 2021, Ukraine sanctioned Wildberries for selling books that violated the standards of Kyiv’s censorship department, and in 2022, Poland banned its merchandise on account of its ties to the Russian military.
Tatyana Bakalchuk, the CEO and founder of Wildberries, is a charismatic woman with a clean-cut look and a reputation for honesty. She has also cultivated close ties to a number of top Russian government officials, including President Vladimir Putin and the head of the anti-monopoly regulator.
The company has also tapped into a large migrant labor pool, which helps it overcome some of the major hurdles of doing business in Russia. Its employees come from a large ethnic Korean community in Russia and include several relatives of Tatyana Bakalchuk, the company’s chief executive officer.
Its family ties are another reason why Wildberries has grown to be the largest e-commerce company in the country. It employs more than 300 people, most of whom come from the ethnic Korean community and work in a variety of roles, including customer service and product development.
Although the company has a reputation for being honest, it also allegedly has a number of unethical practices. In addition to a high staff turnover and lack of transparency, it has also been linked to shoplifting and other incidents.
Nonetheless, it has managed to grow at a rate that rivals can only dream of. Its gross merchandise value, a key industry measure, rose 93% in 2021 to 844 billion roubles and its sales are expected to rise nearly twice as fast this year to 1.5 trillion roubles.