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Ozon sets up operating company to scale up business in Belarus

With the appearance of its own logistics center and the development of its last-mile service, it intends to reduce the time needed to deliver goods to Belarus, which currently takes five to seven days on average, the company said

© Artyom Geodakyan/TASS

MOSCOW, May 13. /TASS/. Ozon has registered an operating company in Belarus to scale up business in the country and expand its logistics infrastructure, Russia’s e-commerce platform said in a statement on Thursday.

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"Ozon announces that it has registered an operating company in the Republic of Belarus called Ozon Rocket Bel LLC. The new structure is being created to scale up business in the country and primarily to expand Ozon’s logistics infrastructure. In 2021, Ozon plans to open a distribution center in Belarus to speed up the processing and delivery of parcels," the statement said.

Ozon has been selling goods to customers in Belarus for several years - relying on local delivery services in place of its own logistics infrastructure. With the appearance of its own logistics center and the development of its last-mile service, it intends to reduce the time needed to deliver goods to Belarus, which currently takes five to seven days on average, the company said.

"Belarus is a strategically important region for Ozon. The company has already developed a loyal customer base here, but we believe there is enormous potential to increase that base. With that in mind, we continue to consistently improve the experience of our Belarusian customers. They now have access to almost the entire range of products available in the marketplace, the Ozon Premium loyalty program, as well as free delivery to partner pickup points and courier delivery, which will become even faster this year. We also intend to help Belarusian manufacturers sell their goods to Ozon’s Russian customers - and in Russia 85 million people have access to our delivery service," Director of Logistics and Customer Service at Ozon Stanislav Kondratyev was quoted as saying.

Ozon also plans an exponential increase in the number of Ozon pickup points, both in partnership with local logistics operators and through the creation of its own branded network of pickup points.

Ozon is a Russian online store with 11 mln stock keeping units across 24 product categories. More than 90% of the assortment are formed by partners of the marketplace. In late 2020 the company raised $1.2 bln worth of net proceeds in an initial public offering.

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