Hermes is further strengthening its parcel business in Russia. As part of its European expansion strategy, the retail and logistics services provider has acquired the 49 percent shares of the Joint Venture previously held by DPD in Russia. This will further accelerate the integration of the company in Hermes' Continental Parcel Network, an organisation specialised in deliveries to private customers. In the coming years, 'Hermes Russia' will continue to develop its parcel shop infrastructure in the world's largest country and establish itself as a partner for distance sellers, especially in the booming e-commerce market.

"As the largest country in the world and as one of the fastest-growing e-commerce markets, Russia occupies a central position for global trade," explains Marc Dessing, Chief Operating Officer at Hermes Europe. "In view of our European expansion, we will be able to further develop the Russian parcel market with immediate effect on our own. On top of this, Russia is important in linking Europe to Asia for Hermes, to enable us to better serve the spectrum of business interests there. So our commitment here is a longterm one, as we strongly believe in a positive Russian market development," says Dessing

In 2014, over 75 million Russian's shopped online, spending more than 16.7 billion euros in webshops– representing a growth of 15 percent year on year. Already during 2010, Hermes began to position itself on the Russian market as a provider of delivery services for both business and private customers. As part of the joint venture, DPD in Russia handled the nationwide logistics transport – and will continue to offer its services in this capacity.

The development on the Russian market is positive: In 2015, the company has been able to expand its collaboration with domestic retailers by 20 percent compared to the similar period last year. Talks are currently being held with further potential e-commerce, fashion and consumer electronics partners, also interested in using the returns service introduced in 2014. In addition, Hermes Russia has registered an increasing number of requests from a variety of distance sellers looking to push ahead with their own international programmes by taking advantage of Hermes’ cross-border parcel network to Western Europe and its 36,000 parcel shops.

Currently, Hermes has more than 400 parcel shops in Russia in over 125 main cities, 100 of which are situated in the metropolitan area of Moscow alone. But Hermes is also operating east of the Urals, in the Asian part of Russia, with parcel shops in major cities such as Yekaterinburg, Novosibirsk, Krasnoyarsk, Omsk and Vladivostok. In the coming months, the number of pick-up/drop-off points will continue to increase rapidly.

[ www.hermesworld.com]