Ukrainian Post, the national postal operator, intends to speed connections with the United States and United Kingdom for cross-border e-commerce shipments, the online business publication Delo.ua reported last week.
The Post’s general manager Mikhail Pankiv noted increasing interest among Ukrainians towards online purchases from abroad, with shoppers primarily looking towards companies from China, the UAS and the UK. Ukrainian Post has already reached an agreement with the Chinese postal service on the accelerated transfer of goods and will move to test the service.
In October of this year, management from the Ukrainian postal service held a meeting with their American counterparts and agreed on a “road map” for future cooperation. In 2015, the operator will launch a service for expedited delivery of e-commerce goods from other key regions of the world. According to Pankiv, Ukrainian Post has set before itself a goal of delivering goods purchased through eBay or Amazon with 7-10 days of the sale.
The Ukrainian cross-border market is growing rapidly. According to GfK Ukraine, around 25% of local Internet users made online purchases abroad last year. The country’s top five cross-border online retailers include eBay.com and Amazon.com, as well as AliExpress.com and TaoBao.com of China’s e-commerce giant Alibaba Group. The Chinese holding is currently considering the possibility of localizing its websites to the Ukrainian market as well.
Last month Next, one of the UK’s largest and most successful fashion retailers, partially localized its global cross-border e-commerce platform (NextDirect.com) to the Ukrainian market. The site lists prices in hryvnias and most content is available in Russian.
The online retailer. offers direct and free delivery to the country on orders over 250 hryvnias (approximately $16) through its DHL courier service, with delivery taking 5-7 days on average. No localized payment options are offered.
