Ozon will launch its own customs broker for foreign goods

So far there is not a single Russian market in the list of participants in foreign trade. To deliver and clear goods from abroad (mainly from China) through customs, Ozon uses the services of external customs agents (intermediaries between importers and customs), whose costs increase the price of the goods for the final consumer, the company reported.

The registration of its own brokerage legal entity, Global OET LLC, writes Vedomosti, according to the SPARK-Interfax database, occurred in March 2024. This is what, according to the market representative, should become part of the list of foreign trade activities.

The company has its own warehouse on the territory of the Kanikurgan logistics terminal in Blagoveshchensk, Amur region, on the border with China. The main activity of the company in the Rusprofile database is indicated as “Road freight transport activities”.

The appearance of its own agent in the list of foreign trade activities will allow the market to independently clear part of the urgent cargo delivered to Russia from China through customs, immediately redirecting the goods to its own logistics network. This approach, according to the newspaper’s interlocutor, will reduce costs for market users and increase the transparency of cargo delivery in the Ozon Global service, which delivers goods to the market from abroad.

To be included in the list of participants in foreign trade activities for the delivery of online orders, significant financial investments are required (more than 750 thousand euros), the newspaper notes, and in total there are only 12 legal entities that deliver online orders. in Russia. At the same time, none of them have an operator in the Amur region, which is important for trade with China, and that is where the Ozon division registered its warehouse, Forte Tax & Law senior lawyer Yulia Talagaeva noted in a comment to the newspaper.

According to a DataInsight study from June 2024, in 2023 online retail import sales in Russia amounted to 313 billion rubles. 98% of online import orders worth 282 billion rubles arrived in Russia from China.

According to the study, the import division of the Ozon Global market is ranked second in the ranking of cross-border online retail players. In June, Vedomosti reported that one-fifth of all sellers on the site represent China.