Ozon.ru

OZON.ru is the first and the leading Russian online retailer, established in 1998. Today, OZON.ru is one of the biggest Russian online multicategory e-commerce platforms. OZON.ru offers assortment of more than 2mn SKUs across 24 product categories and attracts more than 2 mn daily active users. In 2018, the company grew its GMV by 73% reporting a record growth since 2008 and fulfilled 15.5 mn customers' orders. In the first half of  2019, OZON's GMV was 31.9 bln rubles which is up 80% compared to the same period in 2018. OZON.ru has its own fulfillment infrastructure that allows the next day delivery to 40% of the Russian population. The company's logistics footprint comprises 8 fulfillment centers in Russia with total space of over 190k sqm; the company operates its own courier delivery service and has a network of more than 8000 pickup points and lockers across Russia.

CEO of OZON.ru is Alexander Shulgin who joined the company late 2017 from Yandex, where he served as COO of the Group and CEO of the Russian business. In 2018, OZON strengthened its management and IT team with talents from major Russian and international tech and ecommerce companies including Yandex, Mail.ru, Alibaba and Lazada.

OZON.ru is a part of OZON Holding, which also owns the leading online travel booking platform OZON.travel and a blocking stake in Russia's largest digital bookstore Litres.

OZON.ru milestones 

 OZON.ru was established in 1998 as an online bookseller by the Russian software house Reksoft. The company has shortly expanded its assortment with music and video CDs and DVDs.
 In 1999, ru-Net Holdings purchased a controlling stake in the company for $1.8mn and committed to invest $1.2mn in OZON during 2000.
 In 2000, Baring Vostok became a controlling shareholder in OZON, having invested $3mn in the company. OZON generated sales of $1.3mn in 2000.
 In 2001, OZON.ru expanded its assortment with software goods. The company also launched delivery to 400 cities in Russia in partnership with courier delivery company SPSR.
 In 2002, ru-Net purchased Reksoft's stake in OZON. OZON.ru has started to add new product categories such as toys and electronics.
 In 2005, OZON announced appointment of Bernard Lukey as new CEO who joined the company from Nestle Nespresso Switzerland. OZON opened a logistics center in Tver with total space of 6.5k sqm and became the first Russian online store with its own modern logistics center.
 In 2006, company showed online sales growth of 77% to $34mn. Considering logistics, OZON.ru launched same-day and next-day delivery in Moscow.
 In April 2007, Ozon.ru received an $18mn investment from Holtzbrinck Ventures, Index Ventures and Baring Vostok. During the year, OZON added cosmetics and jewelry categories to its assortment, as well as launched digital ad sales on its website, with HP, Intel, Sony and Beeline among the first advertisers.
 In 2008, OZON sales grew by 55% and reached $102mn. During the year, OZON announced construction of a new logistics centre in Tver with space of 10k sqm and operating capacity of 4.7mn orders per year. OZON.ru added digital books to the assortment.
 In 2009, OZON announced the launch of its OTA (online travel agency) platform OZON.travel. In addition, during the year, OZON.ru introduced its new loyalty program. OZON.ru sales grew by 21% in 2009.
 In 2011, OZON raised $100 million in a round led by ru-Net with the participation of Rakuten, Alpha Associates and Index Ventures. This was the largest private investment in the Russian ecommerce market to date. OZON Holding GMV grew by 78% and reached RUB8.9bn during the year. Maelle Gavet who was previously in charge of marketing at OZON.ru became the new CEO. OZON.ru added footwear category to its assortment during the year.
 In 2012, OZON Holding showed GMV growth of 73%, with net sales of goods up 63% vs the previous year. In 2012, OZON acquired an online fashion store Sapato.ru which saw $25mn in sales in 2011 and took the third position in Russia in terms of brand recognition (the company was later sold).
 In 2014, AFK Sistema and MTS invested $150mn in OZON for a 20% stake. During the year, OZON acquired a minority stake in Litres, leader in Russia's fast growing e-book market. OZON has also updated its brand positioning to highlight its assortment breadth in 2014.
 In 2015, OZON.ru increased its turnover by 33%. The company added apparel and food product categories to its assortment. The company has also announced appointment of Danny Perekalsky as new CEO. Mr Perekalsky has been in charge of marketing at OZON since 2014 and previously had management experience at food retailers Dixy and Metro.
 In 2016, OZON.ru net sales grew by 20% to RUB14.2bn. During the year, OZON expanded its logistics infrastructure with the opening of a 6.8k sqm fulfillment center in Ekaterinburg and a 3.5k sqm fulfillment center in Kazan. The company expanded its assortment with home improvement goods.
 In 2017, OZON announced appointment of Alexander Shulgin as new CEO. Mr. Shulgin has joined the company from Yandex where he has been company COO since 2014 and CFO since 2010. Mr. Shulgin managed Yandex's IPO on NASDAQ.
 In 2017, OZON expanded its fulfillment center in the Tver region by 14k sqm to 40k sqm and launched a 5k sqm fulfillment center in Krasnodar. The company has added fresh food category to its assortment, launched its own OZON Box parcel lockers and announced a joint project with Pharmacy Chain 36,6 on online pharmacy selling.
 In 2018, OZON announced that it raised $61mn (with potential for extension to $92mn) from the existing shareholders led by Baring Vostok and MTS to support the development of logistics structure, assortment expansion and new projects. In the first half of 2018, OZON.ru attracted over 100 IT talents to its team. Vast majority of the new developers and product managers joined OZON from Lazada. The company announced the plans to hire 200 more employees in the near future, aiming to strengthen its technological platform. In June 2018, OZON headquarters moved to the new office at Moscow-City International Business Center.
 In 2018 OZON grew its GMV by 73% which is up to 4 times faster than the Russian e-commerce market.
 In early 2019 OZON expanded its financial ecosystem with a service that allows customers to grant loans to small and medium businesses among Ozon's 2,000+ supplier which will support its marketplace growth. OZON also was the first in Russia to launch consumer loans for multi category online purchases as well as a bank card with cash back. OZON plans to double its fulfillment infrastructure this year by opening a huge logistics hub of more than 100,000 sq.m in Moscow suburbs.
In 2019 OZON was named one of the top 5 most valuable Russian internet companies by Forbes.
In 2019 OZON launched an express delivery service for grocery products reducing delivery time down to 40 minutes and also grew its network of fully automated pickup points making it the biggest network in Russia.

References

Category:Online retailers of Russia
Category:Retail companies established in 1998
Category:Internet properties established in 1998
Category:Rakuten
Category:1998 establishments in Russia
Category:Companies based in Moscow