Ulmart Plans to Expand Its Online Platform to Help Small Businesses in Russia Grow

MOSCOW, June 26, 2014 /PRNewswire/ --

So as not to rest on its laurels as the leader of Russian internet-retail, Ulmart is taking the initial steps to prepare the company for a deeper level of fulfillment.  Ulmart's A-Team notes that many an entrepreneurial Russian sees the development of good ideas stymied because of the lack of retail platforms.  If not selling the items at trade fairs, through social networking sites or to friends, growing sales has proven very difficult.

     (Logo: http://photos.prnewswire.com/prnh/20140203/667275 )

The Ulmart project will emphasize the company's clear competitive advantage by actively using the expansive network of nearly 400 pick-up/order points (Outposts).  

This "pre last-mile" infrastructure is one of the key elements that has enabled Ulmart to reach nearly 85% of Russia's consumption power and is putting the company on target to reach sales of $1.65 billion (with VAT) in 2014.

A customer will be able to find goods supplied by Russian small businesses via the Ulmart electronic-catalogue (currently with 67,000 SKU); the seller is obligated to deliver the item to the Outposts.  The seller pays a fee to Ulmart based for placing the item, on the value of the sale and an additional fee should Ulmart deliver it to the Outpost.

"We expect these sales to become a fair amount of our revenue by 2018.  This effort is both a 'service' to small business and a benefit to consumers-we want Russian online shoppers to find what they are looking for at Ulmart.ru and we believe this proposition can further increase our level of fulfillment," Brian Kean, Ulmart's Director for Communications and an A-Team member commented.

While the goods to be sold via the Ulmart platform will widely vary, for certain is that 100% of them be provided by small businesses located in Russia and the A-Team gives priority to technical ones like solar rechargers, external, high-powered speakers for mobile devices, etc.  

"Any good idea that comes from the minds and hard-work of a small, Russian entrepreneur could very likely appear in the electronic-catalogue."

As a reminder, the A-Team is a group of Ulmart employees from different specialties who brainstorm ideas and suggest them to top-management.  The A-Team came up with the unique idea of establishing an order-point for Russians living abroad, tried to launch the use of Bitcoins until the Russian government outlawed them and had launched other ideas internally.