Online shopping is becoming a booming business in Russia, attracting some world heavyweights seeking a piece of the action. China's Ali Express now controls about two-thirds of the market. But local tech giant Yandex is stepping up to challenge the e-commerce giant. CGTN's Aljosa Milenkovic sends this report from Moscow.

For Valeriya Ledeneva, this is the usual way of picking up goods she purchased online. She came to this shop of the new online shopping platform player Beru, to grab an item she bought yesterday, out of an automated delivery box. It is the fastest way for her to shop.

VALERIYA LEDENEVA BERU BUYER "I study and also work. So I'm on the computer and mobile phone a lot. That makes it easy for me to compare the products and choose the one with the best price. For me, Beru is most convenient, because the purchase is delivered the next day or I can pick it up here."

This old factory building in Moscow was turned into a modern tech center to house this shop too.

ALJOSA MILENKOVIC MOSCOW "Internet, online shopping revolution has come to Russia. After world heavyweight Ali Baba entered this market a few years ago, now the locals are trying to reclaim a piece of the Russian market and Beru aims to spearhead that thrust."

Beru is a joint venture of two Russian corporate giants. Yandex, which many here refer to as the "Google of Russia", and Sberbank. Sberbank invested half a billion USD in this venture, hoping not for a quick return on the money, but to grab a big share of the expanding market. They intend to achieve that by offering merchandise from all over the world, and not just from Russia or China, which is now the case for their competition.

ALEX VASSILIEV CHIEF INTERNATIONAL OFFICER, YANDEX MARKET "That's why we have thousands of merchants from Turkey right now, we have merchants from Korea, we have merchants from Germany, et cetera. So, that's our idea. We want to build a truly global platform which will allow Russians to buy from abroad but at the same time, we are also targeting the global expansion as well."

According to the investment bank Morgan Stanley, Russia's online shopping market will rise three-fold in the next four years, reaching an annual level of 52 billion USD. In an environment where Chinese Ali Express rules the Russian market, Beru hopes to use its indigenous platform as a competitive advantage.

ANNA NESTEROVA GLOBAL BUS TRADE "Beru is a national brand created by Russian producers for Russian buyers. Both sides intuitively know how to interact on the platform, how the platform works, how to return merchandise, how to communicate, what to do in the case of returned goods or complaints. It is all intuitive for us."

 In the looming battle over the Russian market between the online shopping giants, it is most likely the buyers who will emerge as the winners. Aljosa Milenkovic, CGTN, Moscow.