Hermes has acquired the 49 per cent shares of a joint venture in Russia previously held by DPD. The aim is to accelerate the integration of the company in Hermes’ continental parcel network.
In 2014, over 75 million Russian’s shopped online, spending more than 16.7 billion euros in web shops –a growth of 15 per cent year on year.
“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,” said Marc Dessing, chief operating officer at Hermes Europe.
Hermes has more than 400 parcel shops in Russia in over 125 main cities.
“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 long- term one, as we strongly believe in a positive Russian market development” says Dessing.