Chinese e-commerce businesses are beginning to see sales spike in Russia as Chinese companies increasingly look to flex their muscles overseas. And the region leading the charge north is East China's Zhejiang province, home to online retail behemoth Alibaba.

Hangzhou-based Alibaba has been targeting Russia's market of 143 million people through its international shopping portal Aliexpress, and the company is beginning to make serious inroads.

According to market research company Taylor Nelson Sofres, as of the end of October, Aliexpress was the tenth most accessed website in Russia and had 21.9 million users in the country.

The company's "Double 11" shopping festival, a day of discounts held on Nov 11 that nets Alibaba billions of dollars each year, is also taking off in Russia. Online orders by Russian consumers on Alibaba's portals were 31 times higher than normal on Nov 11 this year, according to data by Yandex, Russia's largest payment platform.

"Russia is the biggest market for Aliexpress," said Zhang Yong, CEO of Alibaba.

Alibaba's success is also providing opportunities for other Zhejiang businesses in the Russian market. Hangzhou Zibuyu Network Technology Co, a leading cross-border online clothing retailer, has seen its sales to Russian consumers increase 30-40 percent per year in recent years.

Zibuyu operates on multiple platforms including Amazon and eBay, but the company is clear where the growth is coming from. "Most of our exports are based on Aliexpress," said a director at the company, surnamed Dong.

And Zibuyu is far from the only company following the trail Alibaba has blazed north. Online retail sales by Zhejiang companies in Russia reached 490 million yuan ($71.01 million) from January to October, according to Hangzhou Customs.

A worker prepares goods for the "Double 11" shopping festival at the warehouse of a Chinese e-commerce logistics company in Moscow, Russia, on Nov 9, 2016. [Photo/ Xinhua]