Cross-border e-commerce package deliveries between Northern Finland and Russia

• Main Author: Laakso, I. (Iina)
• Format: Master Thesis
• Language: English
• Published: University of Oulu 2021
• Subjects: Kainuu; karelia*; Northern Finland; Republic of Karelia
• Online Access: http://jultika.oulu.fi/Record/nbnfioulu-202106178464

Abstract. The Russian e-commerce market has been growing rapidly during the past years and this growth has only accelerated since the beginning of the COVID-19 pandemic. Russia is Europe’s largest internet market and thus presents opportunities for companies which hope to grow their e-commerce sales. Russian consumers trust and value Finnish brands and products and are likely to purchase them using cross-border e-commerce, especially now that the border is closed due to the COVID-19 pandemic. Even though Finnish companies have successfully incorporated e-commerce into their businesses with their domestic customers, only a very small percentage of them practice cross-border e-commerce. This is why it is important to recognize the barriers companies face regarding the Russian e-commerce market and the cross-border e-commerce package deliveries. The purpose of the thesis is to overcome the barriers by finding ways to develop cross-border e-commerce package delivery between Northern Finland and Russia. The regions of Northern Ostrobothnia, Kainuu and the Republic of Karelia were chosen to be the main focus of the study as they all neighbor the Finnish-Russian border and each other. In order to identify possible ways to develop the delivery process between the regions, the knowledge that the companies have about the Russian e-commerce market, and the barriers they face regarding the market and the cross-border e-commerce package deliveries of the market need to be identified first. The research follows an abductive process where the existing literature is studied first, and the empirical analysis is done based on the formed theoretical framework. The research is conducted as a qualitative multiple-case study and the empirical data is gathered via four semi-structured interviews with company representatives. The interviewees consist of company representatives from the Northern Ostrobothnia and Kainuu regions who practice cross-border e-commerce to Russia and a logistics service provider specializing in cross-border ...