俄罗斯电子商务市场为何让世界网络巨头铩羽而归

    按常理来说，俄罗斯肯定会张开双臂，热烈欢迎亚马逊（Amazon）、易趣（eBay）和谷歌（Google）这些外国互联网公司的到来。然而，谷歌在俄罗斯费尽心思，却只获得27%的市场份额，远远落后于其俄罗斯本土对手Yandex（占有61%的市场份额），只能被迫屈居次席；而另一家互联网巨头亚马逊则根本无法进入俄罗斯市场，原因何在？

    其实，并不是俄罗斯人不想拥有这些跨国公司的产品和服务。俄罗斯拥有欧洲数量最多的网民，目前已经达到5，300万，而且年同比增长速度是其在欧洲的最大竞争对手德国的七倍以上。因此，俄罗斯网络市场具有进一步增长的潜力。俄罗斯的优势不止这些。它拥有极佳的可支配收入与债务比率，而且俄罗斯人无论对新奇的产品和还是在本土奇货可居的产品都具有极高的热情，因此，表面上来看，俄罗斯发生电子零售革命的时机已经成熟。

    这并不是说俄罗斯本土企业毫无机会。除了Yandex外，俄罗斯分类信息网站Avito也挤走了来自美国的竞争对手Craiglist。面对由电子支付服务商Mail.ru支持的Molotok网站，eBay也只能逃之夭夭。而网上零售店OZON.ru一直被视为俄罗斯版的亚马逊。另外，虽然许多公司选择与俄罗斯本土公司合作，比如团购网站Groupon就与Mail.ru建立了合作伙伴关系，但面临KupiKupon、Biglion和Vigoda的激烈竞争，它在俄罗斯市场依然举步维艰。有些俄罗斯团购网站在第一年便能获得数百万美元的收入。在俄罗斯，这些网络巨头的全球霸权似乎完全失效；也难怪俄罗斯会被视为欧洲最后一块互联网前沿阵地。

    俄罗斯人有自己独特的行事风格，这一点毋庸置疑，但西方大品牌无法像以往一样轻松进入，然后轻而易举地主导当地市场，并不能单纯归因于文化冲突，也不能完全归咎于俄罗斯人的傲慢自大。其实，问题的根源在于，越来越多的俄罗斯人已经可以接入互联网，手里也也不缺钱花，但正因为如此，外国公司不可能再像以往那些兼具实体与网络的品牌一样，轻松进入该市场，开完店就坐等着收钱。而许多跨国公司并没弄清楚这一点。

    When it comes to the likes of Amazon, eBay and Google, one might think Russia would welcome such foreign Internet giants with open arms. So why is it that, despite its best efforts, Google with just 27% market share has been forced into the unfamiliar position of playing second fiddle to Yandex, its Russian contemporary which holds a comfortable 61% share, while Amazon has no presence in the country at all?

    It's not as if Russians don't want them. With more than 53 million people now online, Russia not only has the largest online audience in Europe but also a year-on-year growth of more than seven times that of Germany, its closest rival. And there's plenty of room for further expansion. Add to that an extremely favorable disposable-income-to-debt ratio and the Russian fervor for products that are either exotic or locally hard to come by, and on paper it looks like a country ripe for an e-tail revolution.

    That is not to say that some companies aren't already doing extremely well out of it. Besides Yandex, Russia's answer to Craiglist, Avito, has been seeing off its large US rival. And while eBay (EBAY) is being given a run for its money by the Mail.ru-backed Molotok, OZON.ru has been branded the Amazon of Russia. Even those that have formed alliances with Russian companies, such as Groupon's (GRPN) partnership with Mail.ru, have been given a rough ride in the face competition from local rivals KupiKupon, Biglion and Vigoda, some of which have been able to generate tens of millions of dollars of revenue in their first year of business. In Russia, it seems, global hegemony doesn't count for much; little wonder then that the country has been described as the last Internet frontier of Europe.

    But while Russia undeniably has its own unique way of doing things, the failure of large western brands to wade in and effortlessly dominate the market -- as they are so used to doing -- cannot merely be attributed to a clash of cultures. And nor is it just a case of hubris. No, arguably the problem is the failure to understand that just because an increasing number of Russians have Internet access and money to spend, businesses cannot just stroll in and set up shop like a traditional clicks-and-mortar business.

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