Tashkent, Uzbekistan (UzDaily.com) — The marketplace Ozon has begun attracting local sellers to sell through its platform. The company has launched operations at its first sorting center in Tashkent and has opened applications for franchise pickup points across the country.

In the initial phase, local sellers have access to two sales schemes for exporting goods from Uzbekistan to Russia: "seller delivery" and "sales from the seller’s warehouse," where the entrepreneur stores the goods at their own warehouse but hands them over to the marketplace for delivery to customers. To expedite delivery under this scheme, Ozon has opened a 1,000 m² sorting center in Tashkent.

This logistics facility will handle the receipt, processing, and preparation of orders for delivery within Uzbekistan and to Russia. In the future, the company plans to expand its area to 5,000 m² and intends to open three more sorting centers in Fergana, Termez, and Bukhara as the business develops. These new logistics facilities are expected to create over 2,000 jobs for local residents.

In the first few days after opening sales from Uzbekistan to Russia, more than a thousand local entrepreneurs registered on the platform. They have already started selling their goods to Ozon customers in both Russia and Uzbekistan.

“Ozon continues to expand in Uzbekistan: residents of the country have been ordering products from our sellers in Russia for over six months. Today, we have created an opportunity for local entrepreneurs to scale their businesses to 51.1 million of our customers. To facilitate their entry into the Russian market, we launched the first Ozon sorting center in Tashkent. We also plan to develop joint educational projects for local entrepreneurs with relevant agencies and non-profit organizations to inform sellers about all aspects of online trading.

Those who do not wish to engage in sales can now also open an Ozon franchise pickup point — a business with minimal risks and stable income,” commented Jamshid Zahidov, head of Ozon in Uzbekistan.

Ozon entered the Uzbek market at the end of 2023, making a multimillion assortment of goods available to residents of the republic from more than 20 categories, including books, clothing, food products, and health items. Customers in Uzbekistan can pick up their orders at BTS Express and EMU Express outlets, at Ozon pickup points, and recently, Ozon launched its own courier delivery service for residents of Tashkent. In the second quarter of 2024, Ozon delivered over 334.8 million orders from sellers in seven countries, with the total turnover of the marketplace exceeding 633 billion rubles.

Following its business development plan in the republic, Ozon has opened applications for entrepreneurs in Uzbekistan to establish branded pickup points (PPZ) under franchise agreements. By 2027, the company plans to open more than 1,500 Ozon pickup points in all cities of the republic, allowing about 1,000 local entrepreneurs to start businesses in this new format, while enabling customers to receive orders at their convenience.

In the first six months after opening a location in a priority area, Ozon subsidizes partners to reduce potential entrepreneurial risks. The marketplace provides guaranteed financial support to the owners of new locations of up to 81 million sums in the first six months of operation. Entrepreneurs also receive a reward from the marketplace amounting to 3.7% of the turnover of orders issued at their point. Additionally, pickup point owners can earn extra income from other services, such as receiving goods from sellers and distributing orders for other logistics companies. The opening of each pickup point will create several jobs for entrepreneurs (2-3 employees), and the total number of employees involved in the operations of the pickup points will exceed 4,000.

“Today, Ozon pickup points are chosen as a delivery method by 9 out of 10 of our customers due to their wide availability, free delivery, and the ability to check orders, try on clothes in comfortable fitting rooms, and return unsuitable products for free,” concludes Jamshid Zahidov.