The largest fulfillment center in the CIS OZON opened in Astana

Kazakhstan's first fulfillment center of the OZON electronic marketplace with a total area of 38 thousand square meters has opened in Astana. The opening ceremony was attended by Deputy Prime Minister - Minister of Trade and Integration Serik Zhumangarin, Mayor of Astana Zhenis Kassymbek, Trade Representative of the Russian Federation in the Republic of Kazakhstan Andrey Babko, representatives of OZON, Mercury Properties, construction company «Basis–A».

Speaking at the opening, Serik Zhumangarin noted that today Kazakhstan is systematically and comprehensively developing the e-commerce ecosystem.

«The share of e-commerce today is about 6% in the volume of retail trade in our country. And in the coming years we plan to increase it to 15%. I think the time is not far off when trading in general will be associated only with online. For our business, the development of e-commerce is, first of all, the expansion of the trading horizon, the improvement of quality. In addition, such fulfillment centers give a powerful impetus to regional trade», — the Deputy Prime Minister stressed.

Mayor of Astana Zhenis Kassymbek noted that all conditions are being created in the capital on behalf of the Head of State to support entrepreneurs, attract private investment in the city's economy.

«This year we expect to introduce 25 investment projects in the city totaling 87 billion tenge. For example, these are projects in the fields of industry, logistics, education, sports, agriculture and others. The launch of projects will also create permanent jobs for citizens. The opening of a fulfillment center in the city allowed attracting 40 billion tenge of private investment. This is a major project in the field of e—commerce in Kazakhstan», — Zhenis Kassymbek said.

A large logistics hub will allow Kazakhstani entrepreneurs to scale online business: reduce the processing time of online orders, delivery of goods to consumers. In addition, it will create more than 2,000 jobs in the region.

The capacity of the OZON logistics park construction project of «Rainbow Logistic» LLP is 70 thousand square meters of warehouse space (1st stage - 40 thousand square meters, 2nd stage – 30 thousand square meters). The volume of investments is 40 billion tenge. The launch of a fulfillment center for receiving a wide range of goods is planned in April this year, which will allow processing at least 260 thousand orders per day. Up to 9 million different goods can be stored in any category – from food to electronics and building materials.

Within the framework of the Eurasian Economic Union, it is planned to launch a pilot project that will speed up customs administration and simplify online trading procedures. The Ministry of Trade and Integration together with the Ministry of Finance of the Republic of Kazakhstan has developed draft amendments to the Code of the Republic of Kazakhstan "On Customs Regulation". Within the framework of the pilot, e-commerce operators will carry out all customs procedures, including declaration, exclusively at the request of the consumer.

The second innovation of the amendments is the delivery of e—commerce goods through the procedure of a customs (bonded) warehouse. As part of this procedure, it is assumed that foreign Internet sites will have the opportunity to place commercial shipments of goods in a customs (bonded) warehouse with a shelf life of up to 3 years. During this time, entrepreneurs will be able to sell and deliver their goods to individuals both on the territory of the Republic of Kazakhstan and to third countries, as orders are received, and declare after the fact (until the 10th day of the month following the month of purchase).

For reference: Ozon is one of the largest marketplaces in Russia. For Kazakhstani entrepreneurs, access to the OZON platform has been open since 2021, through the tools of the Qaztrade Trade Policy Center, support is provided for the withdrawal and maintenance of companies on the site.  17 fulfillment centers have been built in 14 cities of Russia, in Belarus (Minsk), and now in Astana.

To date, about 15,000 Kazakhstani sellers have been registered at the OZON site, whose sales volume for 2022 amounted to more than 10 billion tenge. The most popular products on the site are electronics, household goods, children's goods and everyday goods.