Wildberries

Wildberries (Russian: ООО «Вайлдберриз») is the largest Russian online retailer. The company was founded in 2004 by Tatyana Bakalchuk.[2] Bakalchuk started the business in 2004 at age 28 in her Moscow apartment while on maternity leave from teaching. She realized how difficult it was for her and other young mothers to shop for clothes for themselves with a newborn at home. Her husband, Vladislav, an IT technician, soon joined her to help build the business.[3]

In 2019 Wildberries had revenues for $3 billion with net profit increasing from Rbs1.88bn to Rbs7bn, confirming Wildberries’ leading role in the Russia’s fast-growing $30bn ecommerce market.[4] In 2020 Wildberries works in 7 countries: Poland, Slovakia, Russia, Belarus, Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan and Armenia, with more than 48,000 employees.[4] Wildberries sells 37,000 brands of clothing, shoes, cosmetics, household products, children goods, electronics, books, jewelry, food and much more. The company processed 750,000 orders[4] on average a day online.

In January 2020 Wildberries started work in the European Union with the launch of sales in Poland. It plans to open about 100 order distribution units in Poland and has opened the first in Warsaw.[5]

The company managed to expand in the aftermath of the 2008 financial crisis, as foreign companies sought to offload their excess inventory at a steep discount.

In 2017 Wildberries became Russia's largest online retailer, surpassing Ulmart.[6] The company, originally based in Milkovo, Moscow Oblast, relocated to Moscow in 2018.[6]

In 2018, Wildberries pulled in $1.9 billion in sales and attracted 2 million daily visitors.[7] Based on Forbes’ analysis, Bakalchuk is worth approximately $1 billion in 2019.[8]

Forbes Magazine included Bakalchuk to the list "The 10 Most Notable New Billionaires Of 2019"[3]