Russian Post and Wildberries opened more than 250 joint branches in the Central Federal District
Wildberries is the last of the largest Russian marketplaces to connect to the Russian Post network for delivery of items. Through cooperation, the operator expects to increase the customer flow in its branches, and Wildberries expects to expand its presence in remote regions. Experts say that connecting marketplaces to the state-owned company’s infrastructure will increase the penetration of online commerce in hard-to-reach regions, but will not solve the state-owned company’s financial problems.
Russian Post and Wildberries have opened more than 250 joint branches in the Central Federal District of the Russian Federation, the companies told Kommersant. “In the near future, Wildberries and Russ pick-up points (POPs) will appear in post offices across the country,” added deputy operator Maxim Tsypin. Wildberries will thus be able to expand its presence in remote regions of the country, the company added.
Now the postal operator already has joint pickup points with Yandex Market and Ozon, said Alexander Khinshtein, a member of the board of directors of Russian Post, head of the State Duma Committee on Information Policy. Now, he clarifies, we are talking about the appearance of branded stands and Wildberries signs in the company’s branches, but the distribution of goods will be carried out by employees of the state-owned company. By the end of the year, it is planned to open more than 3 thousand joint pick-up stations with Wildberries, and in 2025, to extend delivery to the entire postal network, says Mr. Khinshtein.
At the end of 2023, the Federal Treasury completed the audit of Russian Post for 2022, during which it determined the company’s loss at 24.5 billion rubles. (see “Kommersant” dated December 1, 2023). At the end of 2023, the company’s net loss decreased by 4.2 times, to 7.2 billion rubles.
A Kommersant source in the logistics market explains that the postal operator has two schemes for working with marketplaces: regular delivery in branches and partner pick-up points, in which a separate window is allocated for delivery, fitting rooms are equipped and the work schedule is increased. “This way the post office benefits from cooperation due to increased customer flow,” he says.
Ozon, which has joint collection points with the company, tells Kommersant that cooperation with Russian Post allows them to “effectively deliver orders to most post offices across the country.” Megamarket explains that “the logistics operator provides services for sorting and pre-postal preparation of shipments, and also delivers customer orders to more than 32 thousand branches,” but they currently have no plans to open joint pickup points. Avito says that more than 38 thousand post offices accept and issue parcels from service users. They also do not plan to open joint pick-up points. Yandex Market says that it already has pickup points jointly with Russian Post and plans to increase their number this year.
“Thanks to the cooperation of the operator and marketplaces in remote regions, for example in the Chukotka Autonomous Okrug, the number of delivered orders has increased significantly, and the growth of online commerce in the first six months is more than 90%,” says the president of the Association of Internet Trade Companies (unites e-commerce market participants). commerce in the Russian Federation) Artem Sokolov. The problem of unprofitability of logistics in remote regions is solved through commercial cooperation, including the use and maximum load of the existing postal infrastructure, he adds.
“Working with Wildberries can provide additional income for the post office, but it will not solve systemic problems,” says Alexey Boyko, an independent analyst and author of the specialized Telegram channel abloud62. “The more a company engages in non-core businesses, the more the quality of user experience for its main services – postal services” is lost.” .
