Products of Vkusvill began to be on sale in branches of Russian Post

Russian Post continues to experiment with the development of the trade direction. The company has now agreed to sell Vkusvilla products and drinks in some of its branches in Moscow and, if successful, plans to replicate the partnership in other cities. This will allow the retailer to increase sales without investing in opening stores, but in the new local markets for Vkusvill, the project may require additional advertising investments, experts say.

Vkusvill products began to be sold at Russian Post offices, the companies told Kommersant. At the first stage, the project operates in 30 post offices in Moscow, where separate racks with groceries, snacks, confectionery and juices under the chain’s brand appeared.

Vkusvill specifies that the pilot project will last at least three months. According to a representative of the network, they are interested in expanding their presence through post offices at the expense of cities where there are no stores. Russian Post says that if there is demand for Vkusvill products in Moscow, the project can then be scaled up to St. Petersburg and other million-plus cities.

For Russian Post, this is not the first attempt to partner with a major retailer. In 2018, the operator launched the sale of goods in a number of post offices in Moscow, the Krasnodar Territory and the Ryazan Region, together with Magnit. As the retailer reported, the assortment consisted of 200 to 600 items, and in 2019 it was planned to open points of sale in at least 2,000 post offices.

Independent expert Irina Bolotova says that this project was not successful, which may be due to too wide a range. Post offices are more suited to selling impulse goods, she says. Magnit did not provide a comment.

The Russian Post says that they do not plan to enter into partnerships with other retailers. In 2022, the company launched the sale of goods under its own trademark “Postmark”, and Belarusian goods appeared in a number of branches in Moscow. The geography of their deliveries is planned to expand.

At the end of 2022, Russian Post’s revenue from trading activities grew by 4% year-on-year, to RUB 28.78 billion. This corresponds to 13.8% of the company’s total revenue, according to its financial statements.

One Story partner Olga Sumishevskaya notes that due to the development of cooperation with Russian Post, Vkusvill will be able to significantly expand its sales network without additional costs for opening its own stores. Grocery and snack deliveries do not require the retailer to install additional equipment, and such goods can be stored in departments for a long time, she adds.

According to Ms. Bolotova, the project is likely to require Vkusvill to invest in advertising. According to her, in Moscow, primarily in central locations, as well as in other million-plus cities, the chain’s products are already quite well known, but in small towns, the recognition of the Vkusvill brand is lower. Ms. Sumishevskaya adds that in order to develop partnerships with Russian Post in cities where there is no Vkusvill, companies will need to decide which of them will take care of logistics and how the process of delivering goods to branches will be built.

Russian Post has recently been actively trying to expand the capabilities of branches, including through partnerships. This year, the company announced the opening of Ozon and Yandex Market pickup points in branches, and in 2022 launched delivery from foreign online clothing stores such as Asos, Net-a-Porter and Farfetch.

Alina Savitskaya