Facing China Slowdown, Alibaba and JD Find Solace in Russia

JD sees potential for 300,000 daily orders in Russia
Russians facing lower disposable incomes look to China

A worker collecting packages pulls a trolley at a JD.com warehouse in Shanghai, China.
Photographer: Tomohiro Ohsumi/Bloomberg

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By Ilya Khrennikov and Anton Doroshev

October 8, 2015 at 10:01 PM UTC

This article is for subscribers only.

Russia’s plunging currency hasn’t weaned consumers off foreign goods. Instead, cash-strapped shoppers are turning to online retailers for imported smartphones, jewelry and clothes, giving an unexpected boost to Chinese e-commerce giants Alibaba Group Holding Ltd. and JD.com Inc.

Alibaba’s AliExpress site posted a 40 percent increase in Russian visitors to 22 million in July compared with a year earlier, according to researcher TNS. JD.com, which gets more than half its sales from electronics and home appliances, started its first international site in June in Russia, exclusively offering devices such as Xiaomi Corp. smartphones for about $214. That’s less than half of what an IPhone or Samsung Electronics Co. model with similar technical specifications costs locally.