Wildberries prepares own messenger: dozens of domains registered for the project

Russia's largest marketplace Wildberries is set to enter the messenger market. The company has already registered dozens of domain names linked to the future service, including wb-messenger.ru and chat-wb.ru. This follows data published by Kommersant in early August 2026.

The development was first revealed by Wildberries & Russ CEO Tatyana Kim in June 2026 in an interview with TASS. According to her, the messenger was initially built for internal employee communication, but the company plans to launch it on the Russian market first and then expand internationally. No official release dates have been announced, yet the registration of numerous domains for a single project points to concrete preparations for a launch.

The rationale behind a marketplace building its own chat app lies in the scale of its audience: Wildberries has around 120 million shoppers and a vast network of sellers who constantly need to discuss product questions, returns, and delivery details. Currently, this communication happens through the platform's built-in chats, which are far from convenient. A dedicated messenger could handle this more smoothly.

The company also already operates Wibes, a video-shopping platform with social elements between users. Evolving it into a full-fledged messenger looks like a natural next step. The context is favorable too: Russia's messenger market is currently nearly empty — Telegram is de facto blocked, and the state-backed MAX is widely installed but hardly beloved by users. Tatyana Kim has explicitly said that a successful launch requires offering "something new," and with the market vacated, the entry barrier is significantly lower than it was several years ago.

The key difference between Wildberries' upcoming service and MAX comes down to the latter's nature: MAX is a state messenger backed by VK with government involvement, and its privacy policy raises concerns among users. Wildberries, as a private commercial company, could offer a different approach to data handling and attract an audience dissatisfied with existing alternatives.