Out of the big and growing number of Russian e-commerce sites one stands out the most - Ozon. It's the oldest (founded in 1998) and the biggest on the market. In 2009 Ozon delivered 1,46M orders containing 6,636M items all across Russia and CIS and reached a turnover of $110M. Just when rumors started spreading that Ozon is loosing its marketshare, Ozon announced its figures for the last year and they showed a 34% growth. That is 13% higher than last year's but compared to its growth before the financial crisis, it still lags behind. Ozon's annual turnover for the last year is almost $148M. The figure pales in comparison with Amazon's $10 billion in turnover but compared with Wikimart, one of its closest competitors in the Russian market, whose turnover reached a mere $1.5M in 2009, Ozon is still the Amazon of Russia.

In 2010 Ozon delivered 1,95M orders with 8,472 total items. The two largest categories of sold goods were books (37,9% of sales) and electronics (32,1% of sales). The fastest growing category is goods for children. Others noticed that growth too: a month ago an online shop with baby care goods called Babyboom (a Russian clone of Diapers.com) attracted up to $600,000 investment, Quintura reports.

Tourism and traveling is another fast-growing sector in Russian Internet. Ozon.Travel grew 20 times in 2010 reaching a turnover of $32M. Moreover, if things continue the same way it is estimated to grow three times this year reaching an annual turnover of $107M.

According to Bernar Luke, CEO, in 2010 Ozon invested about $1,3M in upgrading their tech equipment and developing their warehouse and logistics. Vedomosti also reported that Ozon is planning to sell 10% of its shares for up to $50M. The major shareholder, Baring Vostok Capital Partners (BVCP) who owns 51% of shares, does not want to reduce their stake in Ozon. Hence, apart from the company itself, it is the minority stakeholders who would sell their shares, states Mihail Osin from Ozon. The attracted investment would be used towards the development Ozon.Travel site, opening of new goods categories and improvement of logistics.

E-commerce is definitely on the rise in Russia, commented Oleg Iljichev, Mail.ru's Vice President. 'Every year the number of people buying goods online is growing. In 2010 the number of web shops on Mail.ru's platform grew by 40% and the number of goods on offer grew by more than 200%', he noted.