Kremlin's AliExpress Fashion Site Folds After 24 Sales in 7 Months
A state-backed project promoting Russian-made goods on Chinese e-commerce site AliExpress has folded after only making 24 sales in seven months, the Kommersant newspaper reported Monday. “Fashion. Made in Russia” was opened by Russia's Trade and Industry Ministry but only managed to attract 130,000 visitors since launching in December 2015. Some 466 Russian companies were initially invited to participate in the project, but 369 firms refused citing a lack of interest in Internet trade. Participating companies complained of problems including badly translated software and problems with currency conversion. Roughly one hundred businesses were only able to begin sales on the platform two weeks after the project's launch date, Kommersant reported.
"The project on AliExpress was an important experience. It showed producers where to go from here, how to approach pricing, and how to present their goods. It is simply impossible to compete in the global consumer market with goods more than twice as expensive as other, similar products,”