Vkusvill may open mini-stores – News – Consumer market – Kommersant

Healthy food retailer Vkusvill plans to open new outlets and develop its traditional retail network despite strong online sales. Representatives of the retailer are also considering the possibility of opening smaller format stores.

“We are definitely not going anywhere from offline. Shops are needed, buyers go to them, and this is our main base. We are opening new outlets, but not at the same rate… We are still thinking about new formats. Perhaps these may be small Vkusvills, but so far this is all at the discussion stage, ”the company told RIA Novosti.

Vkusvill noted that their online and offline customers are the same people whom network representatives consider as “hybrid customers”. “It becomes more convenient for them to go to the store a couple of times a week, but at the same time order online more often. And, of course, offline stores act as dark stores when our warehouses cannot cope with peak load,” the retailer’s management explained to the agency.

The format of mini-stores of retail chains is often introduced by European and American retailers, for example, the French Carrefour. They feature a limited range of products, also available for purchase in “full” retail stores. The Vkusvill structure also operates stores of a modified format “Vkusvillice”95% of the assortment of which are frozen products.

Andrey Sapozhnikov