2004 there were recorded 61 hypermarkets in Russia, in 2007 there were already 214. 2008 the growth declined by 27%, in 2009 there were only 2 new hypermarkets opened. 2010 the growth accelerated again and the number of hypermarkets grew by 16% and reached 318 (not including cash&carry format stores).
Source: www.product.ru
Fruit import can hardly be considered as a high-yield business: the average profitability is about 5% due to the intense competition and the companies’ liability to keep the price level low. Direct import allows to improve the quality of the product range by reducing the supply chain and to make the retail prices more competitive.
Among the largest Russian retailers it is only X5 Retail Group which isn’t planning to become an independent importer. Russian retail chain Dixy has started its own import of fruit and vegetables which account for 12% of the total turnover. At the moment the chain imports 50 items of this category – about a half of the fruit and vegetables range.
Metro Group Buying provides Metro Cash & Carry with 80% of the imported produce. The company’s representative says that the share of the imported goods will grow. The French hypermarket chain Auchan imports fruit and vegetables from Spain and Portugal.
Source: www.foodretail.ru
Walmart is not the only major international retailer to pull out of Russia in recent years after failing to establish a viable business in the country. In October 2009, French retail giant Carrefour announced it was pulling out after opening just one shop in Moscow and another in the southern city of Krasnodar.
The discount retail sector in Russia, where Walmart operates, is severely underrepresented.
There are only two international hypermarket chains, Auchan and Real, operating in this sector, so the market is certainly not saturated. Walmart International CEO Doug McMillon said that Walmart will continue to pursue market entry opportunities
Source: en.rian.ru
With a total turnover in 2010 of 7.1 trillion rubles ($239 billion), the retail food market is growing at 13 percent — more than twice the rate of the economy as a whole — and leading retailers are seeing growth of 30 to 40 percent. However, the main driver for food retail growth is the growth of prices.
The X5 Retail Group, the largest food retailer, plans to open 540 new stores all over the country. Magnit, the supermarket chain with the greatest geographic coverage, is to open 800 convenience stores and 55 hypermarkets. Discount chain Dixy hopes to open 150 convenience stores in Moscow and the regions, and intends to attract customers with a new logo, more efficient operations, sales and discount cards.
This expansion will build on last year’s boom, in which X5 added 1097 new stores, including 660 stores via its acquisition of competitor Kopeika. Magnit opened 827 stores, compared with 646 openings in 2009. Dixy had 646 stores open in the end of 2010, up from 623 open the previous year. With last week’s purchase of rival Victoria Group supermarket chain, Dixy will own 901 stores. Sedmoi Kontinent had 146 stores at the end of the year mostly in and around Moscow, compared with 139 a year earlier.
X5’s net revenue for 2010 was 341.6 billion rubles ($11.2 billion). Magnit earned 7.1 billion rubles ($241 million) for the same period. But the market is highly fragmented, with none of the major players having more than 4 percent share, according to UralSib.
Source: www.themoscowtimes.com
X5 Retail Group has opened the first of its economy-class hypermarkets under the Pyaterochka-Maxi brand. Pyaterochka-Maxi is focussed on sales of food and non-food items to retail and wholesale customers. The main competitive advantage of Pyaterochka-Maxi is price leadership. It will offer the best prices by monitoring all competitors and meeting or beating them on every item. Wholesale bulk purchases will be entitled to an additional volume discount of 10-15%.
CEO Lev Khasis said: “This new economy-class hypermarket format will enable X5 to enter new markets and reach low income customers that are under-served by the competition.”
Source: uk.ibtimes.com
Owners of kiosks and other street businesses in Moscow won a respite Tuesday when the city government signed off on a draft order to regulate mobile, small-scale retail businesses.
Following an enthusiastic campaign to rid the city’s streets of vendors, Moscow officials are blushing after it was discovered that no formal order to remove the kiosks was ever issued.
As it turned out, the final document was relatively innocuous. The order requires the city’s architecture committee to develop a new plan for the placement of small-scale retail businesses “taking into consideration the transportation situation, residents’ needs and convenience of the location.” The plan should be completed by May 1, 2011.
Source: www.themoscowtimes.com
The new mayor of Moscow criticized the former authorities for kiosks and tents abundance in the Russian capital and its historical centre. Two years ago the estimated number of kiosks was more than 10,000. 2008 it was reduced to 6,500. Due to this fact, heads of the municipal councils Tverskaya and Presnenskaya have already been fired, as well as the head of the Consumer market and service department. The Department must carry out an inventory check of small-scale retail facilities and remove the kiosks. First of all the unauthorized tents and those obstructing the traffic should be dismantled. Kiosk and tent owners are obliged to remove them within 24 hours after the order. Significant amount of fruits and vegetables are sold via “uncivilized” street retail in Moscow, such orders are to a benefit of retail chains and will have an effect on the structure of the retail market.
Source: www.retailer.ru
Premium-class food supermarket chain Azbuka Vkusa has opened two new supermarkets. In October 2010, the new supermarket opened its doors at Russakovskaya Street in Moscow. Its total area is 1,800 sq.m, sales area – 800 sq.m. Another supermarket started its work at Leningradskoye Shosse. Its total area is 1,200 sq.m, sales area – 565 sq.m. 5 new facilities have been launched since the beginning of this year. The opening of 3 more supermarkets is planned till the end of 2010. One of them will be opened at Profsoyuznaya Street and will start its work in November.
The food supermarket chain Azbuka Vkusa is run by “Gorodskoy Supermarket” LLC, founded in Moscow in 1992. The first shop was opened in 1997. As of end of October 2010, Azbuka Vkusa counts 31 supermarkets in Moscow and Moscow Region. Director General: Vladimir Sadovin.
Source: www.retailer.ru
Wal-Mart – the world’s largest retail chain – resumed negotiations with Russian discounter chain Kopeyka. Earlier in the year, X5 – Russian retail market leader – was reported to almost complete the purchase of Kopeyka.
“The Trading House Kopeyka”, which runs the chain, launched the second public offering of its bonds at the MICEX stock exchange with the total volume of RUB 3 billion. The first warrant rate is 9% per annum.
Source: www.retailer.ru
According to the “Ranking of FMCG retail chains of Russia”, by the INFOLine Agency, the growth of shopping space of top 70 Russian FMCG chains is more than 315,000 sqm estimated from January to September 2010. Russia’s 70 largest FMCG retailers opened 874 shops within this period. Among expanding retailers are such chains as Magnit, Karusel, O’key hypermarkets, Victoria, Atak, Azbuka Vkusa supermarkets, as well as Diksi, Kopeyka, Maria-Ra, Holiday, 7ya Sem’ya, Kvartal, Monetka, Aniks discounters and convenience stores and others. As of October 1 2010, top 70 FMCG retailers have 10,928 outlets with the total sales space 7.1 million sqm.
As of October 1 2010, there were 424 hypermarkets in Russia with the total sales space of 2.7 million sqm. During January – September 2010 it grew by 39,000 sqm.
The number of supermarkets, run by the top 70 retailers, was 1169 as of October 1 2010, their total sales space was more than 1.2 million m2. The sales space growth from January to September exceeded 16,200 m2.
The total number of discounters and convenience stores was approx. 9,335, with the total sales space about 3.3 million m2. The January – September growth was more than 296,000 m2.
Source: www.retailer.ru