Factors Affecting Development of the Russian Market of Fulfillment Services

Abstract

The growing scale of the Russian e-commerce market over the recent years has led to significant quantitative and qualitative changes. These changes resulted, in particular, in the emergence of new logistics intermediaries known as order fulfillment operators, undertaking the entire range of operations related to processing online orders. But, despite obvious advantages of outsourcing logistics operations for small and medium-sized online stores, the percentage of orders completed via the services of these intermediaries has remained almost unchanged in recent years. The purpose of this study is to assess significance of the factors limiting development of the Russian market of fulfillment services. The methodology of the study is based on an analysis of the main trends in development of this sector of logistics intermediaries. The study was based on the data of statistical reporting and analytical reviews. The object of the study is the Russian fulfillment services market. The scientific novelty of the work lies in the systematization of the factors that cause restrictions in developing of the market in question. Among these factors, we can single out the underdevelopment of the logistics infrastructure of fulfillment operators; incurring risks of outsourcing certain functions of sellers to logistics intermediaries; customer dissatisfaction with quality of services provided; non-transparent pricing policy of fulfillment operators themselves. The study made it possible to determine some ways of improving performance of order fulfillment operators, which will allow them to quickly and efficiently adjust to new economic conditions.