Azbuka Vkusa

Azbuka Vkusa adds a new format

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The retailer Azbuka Vkusa announced launching new format of supermarkets – AV Market. As it has been known from Vedomosti newspaper Andrey Tkemaladze is going to be a director of the new chain of supermarkets.

According to the top manager, 5 hypermarkets, which Azbuka Vkusa gets as result of a deal with Spar, are going to be rebranded by the end of the year. Complimentary to rebranded Spar hypermarkets this year another 5 new hypermarkets will be opened: 3 – in Moscow, 2 – in Moscow region. The retailer is planning to open not less than 5 new AV Market hypermarkets per year.

When developing this new format supermarkets Azbuka Vkusa was deeply learning a background of USA supermarket networks such as Wegmans, Whole Foods, Trader Joe’s.

Target market of AV Market is going to be wider than usual Azbuka Vkusa has. The retailer wants to carry out a new format – a market inside a store, where customers can bargain and get a discount depending on goods’ amount.
An average bill will be around 1000 Rubles and that is 1.5 lower than in usual Azbuka Vkusa supermarkets, but higher than in other super- and hypermarkets.

A product assortment is going to consist of 15,000-20,000 names. Groceries will take 10-15% of the whole amount of product assortment. A share of fresh products will take 50% of whole assortment. It is planned to create few in-store cafes, but it will depend on store square.

AV Market is going to be an anchor renter in shopping malls: minimal selling area of AV Market will take 2000 square meters, maximal – up to 10,000 square meters.

www.retailer.ru

Azbuka Vkusa will buy SVA Trading

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Moscow premium retailer “Azbuka Vkusa” will close a deal and buy the company “SVA Trading” (owned by Sergei Inozemtsev and his partners) in February 2014. Right now “SVA Trading” is a business owned by “SPAR”.

Early last week, “Azbuka Vkusa” has received an approval from the Federal Antimonopoly Service of Russia to purchase eight “SPAR” stores, a warehouse and manufacturing facilities. The total shopping floor space of the stores accounts for 10.1 thousand square meters. However, the company doesn’t hurry to make a purchase. “In December, during the peak season, the absorption of another business can be too much for the company,” – said a top-manager of the company.

Right now the deal value is undisclosed. Earlier it was stated that “SVA Trading” assets were worth $ 85-105 million.

“Azbuka Vkusa” plans to operate “SVA Trading” stores under its own brand within 3 months after the deal is closed.

In 2014 “Azbuka Vkusa” will expand its chain of stores by at least 20 new joints (including eight “SVA Trading” stores). The opening is planned to be conducted in Moscow, Moscow Region and St. Petersburg.

www.retailer.ru

“Spar Retail” has problems

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Victor Balashov, director of “Spar Retail” (retail chain Spar), leaves the company after eight months of work. According to the market experts, Mr. Balashov has difference in opinion with major shareholder of the chain – Alexander Mamut’s Fund A & NN Capital Management. Industry experts estimate the state of the “Spar Retail” as critical and recommend to declare bankrupt. Alexander Mamut owns 61% of  “Spar Retail” (through A & NN Capital Management Fund), Russian Retail Growth Fund owns 36%, and Dmitry Maslov, ex-CEO of the company, has 3%.

Now there are 24 Spar stores. The main idea was to create an ideal supermarket for upper middle class, supermarkets were to occupy a vacant palce between the “Perekrestok” format and premium networks “Azbuka Vkusa” and “Globus Gourmet”. But the idea failed. According to some market analysts, although the revenue of the chain is 6.3 billion rubles, «Spar Retail» does not cost more than 2 billion rubles, without considering its debts, which are about 6 billion rubles.

Source: www.retailer.ru

Azbuka Vkusa to develop small shopping malls in Moscow and Leningrad Provinces

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Azbuka Vkusa, a premium class grocery retailer, is planning to build 15 shopping centres in the Moscow and Leningrad Provinces within the next five years. Each will cover up to 4,000 m2 and will house an Azbuka Vkusa supermarket on about 2,000 m2. The rest of the areas will be let to rent to fast food restaurants, laundries and other small businesses. The project development was prompted by a lack of suitable premises and the total amount invested is estimated to be $150m.
Today, Azbuka Vkusa has 53 supermarkets in and around Moscow and St. Petersburg. As Retail Update Russia reported on a previous occasion, the company recently announced plans to expand on the Ukrainian market.

Source: www.russiaretail.com

Azbuka Vkusa announces the opening of a new branch in St. Petersburg

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Azbuka Vkusa announces the opening of its first supermarket outside the capital region. The company opens a branch in St. Petersburg and plans to launch there more than 10 supermarkets within 3 years.

The opening of the first supermarket in St. Petersburg is scheduled for autumn 2012. By the end of the business year 2012 there will be already four supermarkets in St. Petersburg.

In St. Petersburg Azbuka Vkusa will keep its traditional structure: one of network’s features is a unique range of goods – more than 18 thousand high quality items including both consumer goods and a large variety of fresh products, delicatessen and farm products.

Some information about the company: Azbuka Vkusa is the first Russian supermarket network specializing in the trade of high quality superior food, consumer goods and alcohol. The company was founded in 1997; and now there are 49 supermarkets in Moscow and the Moscow region. They have partners in more than 50 countries worldwide; more than 6,000 people work for the company. Azbuka Vkusa profit was about 21.6 billion rubles in the business year 2011 (it ended March 31, 2012).

Azbuka Vkusa became the first Russian company in the retail food trade that introduced and certified the system of quality management based on ISO 9000 standards. In 2012 the company successfully passed the recertification audit for the second time and confirmed compliance with the system to the international standard ISO 9001:2008.

Source: www.av.ru

Fruits from Chile launches in Russia

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The new branding for the Chilean fresh fruit industry has been showcased for the first time in the Russian Federation as the country continues to roll out its new identity at major trade fairs and through promotional activities around the world.

The new brand, Fruits from Chile, was launched during one of the first promotional events in Russian supermarket Azbuka Vkusa in Lotte Plaza, Moscow, on 1 June, according to a press release from the Chilean Fruit Exporters Association (Asoex).

“We are happy to collaborate with the Chilean companies, whose products are highly valued by our consumers,” said Andrey Golubkov, press secretary of the Azbuka Vkusa retail chain. “We offer the best fresh fruit to our clients throughout the year, and our policy is to be faithful to products of highest quality and to the most responsible suppliers”.

The event was opened by the Chilean Minister of Agriculture, Luis Mayol, during which guests had opportunity to taste fresh fruit from Chile and to take part in the culinary master class devoted to dishes featuring fruits from Chile.

Russian is an important destination for Chilean fruit exports to the European continent, representing the third largest export market for the direct sendings of Chilean fruit to this region.

During the 2010/11 season, arrivals of Chilean fruit to the Russian market rose by 8 per cent.

“Considering the fact that there’s always a great demand for fresh fruit in Russia throughout the year, it is possible to say that the further growth of supplies of fruit from Chile will be a source of great enjoyment for the Russian customers,” Asoex said.

Source: www.fruitnet.com

Azbuka Vkusa: Expansion plans

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Azbuka Vkusa – a premium-class retail chain, operating 44 supermarkets in Moscow and Moscow Region, is planning to open a supermarket in St. Petersburg. The company is also considering other directions: Kiev and Yekaterinburg. However, the final decision will be made in March 2012.

The chain is looking for retail premises from 800 to 1,500 sq m for premium-class food store, which are quite hard to find in the city center, as the competition among food retailers is growing and St. Petersburg can’t boast the same number of premium segment customers as Moscow, as per experts.

Source: www.retail.ru

Azbuka Vkusa to expand retail chain up to 50 stores

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Azbuka Vkusa is planning to expand the retail chain of premium-class supermarkets up to 50 stores till April  2012. In the financial year 2011 the company is planning to open 10 new stores, 3 of them have already been put into operation.  At the moment the chain includes 43 stores.

The opening of one store requires about USD 4 mln investment. In 2010 the company’s net profit grew fourfold to RUB 978.8 mln from RUB 237.9 mln in 2009.

Source: www.retail.ru

Azbuka Vkusa launches its “green” program

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Azbuka Vkusa has launched a massive eco-program which implies total switch to biodegradable shopping bags and packing. From now on all purchases are put into biodegradable bags which remain free of charge for customers.

Switch to eco-friendly bags is the first step of the new corporate social responsibility program, carried out by the retailer.

As further steps Azbuka Vkusa is planning to broaden the line of craft bags of different size and eco-friendly jute bags. The company is considering the option of total refusal of plastic packaging.

Source: www.retail.ru

Organic Products Gain Popularity Remaining in a High-Price Segment

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According to experts’ opinion the farm products market in Russia is still at the initial stage of the development.  The share of farm products is tiny as consumer’s demand tends to grow. Food retail chains started to cooperate with private farms only 5 years ago. Today such retail chains as Azbuka Vkusa have meat, poultry, dairy products, seasonal fruit and vegetables from private farms in their assortment. These products  are twice as expensive as their analogues from factory farms due to the high transportation and logistics expenses, but shoppers are ready to overpay for organic high-quality food items.

Source: www.retail.ru