QIWI Offers Russian Online Shoppers Local Payment Options on AliExpress.com

Russian shoppers will be able to use QIWI Wallet to easily purchase low-price consumer products from China's e-commerce powerhouse AliExpress.com

MOSCOW, May 24, 2012 – AliExpress.com, a global e-commerce platform with small business sellers currently offering more than 11 million unique consumer products from China across more than 4,000 categories, and QIWI, a market leader in e-payment solutions in Russia, today announced AliExpress.com will be featuring QIWI Wallet as a payment option to cater to the country's growing population that is adopting online shopping. QIWI Wallet is AliExpress.com's first direct payment channel launched in Russia and will give AliExpress.com users access to the local payment options provided by QIWI Wallet. AliExpress.com – a part of Alibaba.com (1688.hk; HKSE: 1688), the global leader in e-commerce for small businesses – has been growing with Russia's rapidly expanding e-commerce market and has increased its membership base in the country by over 600 percent from 2010 to 2011.

AliExpress.com offers buyers a wide variety of consumer products from China and many at a lower price – even after shipping cost – than the same product at retail price in Russia. QIWI is a payment service that allows its more than 80 million users to pay for purchases on the Internet and mobile as well as to stores and utilities providers. AliExpress.com is further expanding on its trust and safety protection commitment around payment through QIWI Wallet's reliable and secured services. QIWI Wallet on AliExpress.com is built on the API of Alipay, China's leading third-party online payment platform, and a sister company of Alibaba.com.

"AliExpress.com is upholding Alibaba.com's mantra of always putting customers first and there is a significant demand for our service of providing buyers with a wide variety of lifestyle products at a low price," said Leo Shen, Director of Global Operations, AliExpress.com. "By allowing customers to have the many different payment options as provided by QIWI Wallet, we are able to create an even better and more convenient online shopping experience for Russian users."

Russian buyers can now pay for their AliExpress.com order instantly and without a transaction fee by using any QIWI Wallet interface: QIWI website, mobile application or at any of the 120 thousand QIWI kiosks operating all over Russia. The customer simply needs to generate an invoice at AliExpress.com, choose QIWI Wallet as a payment option and then instantly pay it in any convenient QIWI Wallet interface, QIWI Wallet prepaid balance, credit card linked to QIWI Wallet, mobile prepaid balance or cash at any QIWI kiosk.

"The online retail market in Russia is in its establishing stage but it already accounts for approximately 4.3 percent of total retail in our country.(1) Buying online gives consumers more options and is a key reason why so many Russians prefer to purchase clothing, tablets, PCs, and other products on Chinese Internet shops that offer wide range of products at competitive prices with excellent service," said Maxim Popov, Managing Director, QIWI Wallet. "Our partnership with AliExpress.com is truly a milestone event – buying in China and paying with QIWI Wallet is now available to every Russian."

Russia's e-commerce market is continuing its growth momentum and is expected to swell to RUB600 billion in the next 5 years from RUB240 billion in 2010(2). In the past, Russians have had to grapple with difficulties associated with paying for online purchases. QIWI enables users to conveniently create a funds account and settle their AliExpress.com purchases easily, eliminating payment processing complications.

QIWI Wallet is available for use on AliExpress.com today. For a tutorial video on how to use QIWI Wallet on AliExpress.com, please visit http://youtu.be/EohWZAL3ktQ?hd=1

(1) Chamber of Commerce and Industry of the Russian Federation, April 2012 (2) PwC, "Finding the Future Online: E-commerce trends in Russia," November 2011