Chinese e-commerce giant Alibaba’s cross-border retail platform AliExpress has launched an online ordering option for car consumers in Russia by teaming up with Chinese maker Chery.
Chery, on March 5, opened its flagship store on the retail platform to sell off-road models under the Tiggo line, along with accessories and spare parts.
After placing an order and making down payment online, Russian consumers can pick up the car at designated offline stores upon the settlement of balance payment.
This new project will address Chinese auto brands’ difficulties in supplying spare parts due to insufficient overseas channels, said Liu Wei, head of AliExpress in Russia.
A variety of auto spare parts on the platform, as well as the local logistics centers built together with Cainiao Network, Alibaba’s delivery arm, will significantly reduce Chinese automaker’s capital investment in overseas supply chain and improve supply efficiency, Liu added.
A total of 1.8 million cars were sold in Russia in 2018, up 12.8 percent year on year, and maintaining positive growth for 12 consecutive months, according to a survey by the Association of European Businesses (AEB).
Indigenous Chinese brands represented by Chery and Lifan are popular in Russia, as they have been listed among the best-selling Chinese cars for a long time.
The survey also indicates that 19,000 Chinese cars were sold in Russia in the first seven months of 2018, a year-on-year increase of 17 percent.
The AliExpress platform saw growing demand for auto products. In last year’s shopping spree, which falls on Nov. 11 every year, auto products in Russian market registered a sales volume that was 20 times more than average.
Among the lists sold by the platform, car is one of the most popular goods for consumers in countries and regions including Spain, France, Poland, the Middle East and South America. The platform also plans to enrich the available car brands and lines.
Chery now has nearly 100 offline stores throughout Russia, encompassing its European part to the Far East region.
In the future, the automaker will enrich its service lists by offering distribution, installation and maintenance of auto parts and enabling same-day delivery for customers.
（Ji Peijuan, People’s Daily, and Bo Chan, huanqiu.com contributed to the story.）
