Yandex and PayEase join forces to launch cross-border trading platform

Russian bargain hunters in Suifenhe

Yandex and PayEase join forces: Russia’s  biggest search engine Yandex has announced that it is linking up with China’s PayEase for the rollout of an e-commerce platform that has been specifically designed to enable Chinese stores located on the Russian-Chinese border to sell their goods via the internet.  PayEase will launch TradeEase this summer in association with the Bank of China, the Ministry of Finance of Heilongjiang Province and the Government of Suifenhe, andaround 10 large vendors from Suifenhe and other cities in the southern province of Heilongjiang are said to have signed up already. Yandex expects that number to grow to several hundred during the first month and to exceed 1,000 by the end of the year. Commercial director Anna Kuzmina anticipates that TradeEase’s turnover will reach RUB50m ($830k) a month in Q1.
The volume of trade between Russia and  Heilongjian province topped $23bn last  year, but has dropped off significantly since then, largely because of the rouble’s devaluation and an increase in rail fares (Suifenhe is 150km north-west of Vladivostok). It is hoped that TradeEase will help Chinese retailer retain their Russian customers.