Last March, as a slew of international brands, from H&M to Apple to Ikea, pulled out of Russia after its invasion of Ukraine, 24-year-old Chinese

As Western brands leave Russia, Chinese companies are cashing in

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2023-02-07 13:30:14

Last March, as a slew of international brands, from H&M to Apple to Ikea, pulled out of Russia after its invasion of Ukraine, 24-year-old Chinese trader Alfie Chai sensed a business opportunity.

Two months later, Chai began selling made-in-China home appliances, kitchenware, and car parts on Ozon, one of Russia’s most popular e-commerce sites, dubbed Russia’s Amazon. By the end of 2022, Chai was receiving 30 to 40 orders every day, despite the fact that deliveries often took more than 20 days to arrive.

Customers would usually not want to wait a month to buy a product, Chai told Rest of World on a call from his office in the northwestern city of Xi’an, in Shaanxi province. “But because demand is high, customers are willing to wait to get the products.”

Since Russia’s invasion of Ukraine, Ozon has been trying to welcome more Chinese sellers like Chai onto the platform to profit from a supply gap of consumer goods in Russia. An exodus of global retailers following Western sanctions against Russia created a vacuum for both local and China-based entrepreneurs to fill by building new supply chains and introducing their own products. Amazon has stopped sending products to Russia. The Chinese government, on the other hand, has denounced Western sanctions as illegal and pledged to maintain trade relations with Russia.