Two Russian chains of the discounter segment are currently entering the Uzbekistan retail market: Svetofor and Dobrocen. This means that the “supermarketization” of Uzbekistan continues. Despite the fact that the chains did not make official announcements about entering the market, both Svetofor and Dobrocen started looking for employees in a number of cities of Uzbekistan, posting vacancies on job portals. A number of foreign, international, and local companies have recently entered the food retail market of Uzbekistan, including French Carrefour, Magnum Cash & Carry from Kazakhstan, Havas, Asia.uz and Baraka Market. Almost all of existing chains announce ambitious expansion plans and many new store openings. It means that the chain retail market in Uzbekistan is experiencing a real boom.
According to the website “Uzbek Retail”, two companies ACTIVE RETAIL LLC and BIGRETAIL LLC were registered in Uzbekistan in June and July this year, their main shareholders being the owners of the Russian retail network “Svetofor”. The activity of the Svetofor retail network dates back to 2009, the first stores of this chain were opened in the Russian cities of Krasnoyarsk and Achinsk. Three years later, the chain consisted of 37 stores. But the retailer began to actively expand in 2012 – more than 500 stores were opened over the next three years. In 2015, the number of Svetofor stores has reached 550.
The company entered the markets of other countries and opened stores in Belarus and Kazakhstan in 2017, while the number of Svetofor stores in Russia exceeded 1000. Svetofor enters a number of countries, primarily the EU ones, with the Mere trademark. From 2018 to early 2021, Mere stores opened in Romania, Germany, Lithuania, Poland, Ukraine and Serbia. In May 2021, the Russian retailer planned to open stores in the UK, as well as enter other European markets – Spain, Greece, France, etc. At the beginning of 2021, the Svetofor chain had more than 2,200 operating stores. The main goal of the Svetofor chain stores is to provide consumers with goods at the lowest prices in the region. The format of the stores is a hard discounter, the average store area is about 1000 sq. m. The general principle of the chain stores is self-service, the range of goods is no more than 2000 items of food and non-food groups. The design of the chain stores is minimalistic in the sales area with a catchy exterior.
The main competitive advantage of the chain is low prices – about 20% lower than the market average due to direct work with producers, tight cost control and minimal trade mark-up. The sales area of the store itself is usually a warehouse that allows to save time on maintenance of the sales area and reduce the cost of renting premises.
As for vegetables and fruits, they are not key positions for Svetofor. The range of fruits and vegetables in stores is usually very narrow, and prices are not as competitive as for packaged products.