Vkusvill targeted the Russian-speaking community in Dubai

Dubai is a promising market for the Russian Vkusvill chain of stores in terms of international expansion. The company can start developing a business there in order to expand further, Mikhail Burmistrov, general director of Infoline-analytics, told Vedomosti.

“There are good prospects for Vkusvill in Dubai. In areas like Dubai Marina, there are a large number of wealthy Russians. Therefore, Vkusvill has not only potential online (that is, in delivery – Vedomosti), but also offline,” he noted.

Dubai is a global market, which makes it more advantageous than, for example, the market of Armenia, Georgia or Kazakhstan, where there are also relocators from Russia. “Dubai is obviously more promising in terms of global expansion – there are other emirates nearby, Saudi Arabia, this is the center of attraction,” Burmistrov explains. He recalled that earlier the Russian company had started the registration process in the Netherlands with the aim of further entering the IPO.

Dubai is not the first foreign project of Vkusvill, but the first in the express delivery format, emphasizes Olga Pashkova, Senior Analyst at Data Insight. In her opinion, the project has enough prerequisites for successful implementation: many large Russian companies have moved their business or opened branches in the UAE. “Dubai is not the market for which it is important to ensure low cost. And the presence of express delivery with Russian roots allows for fast delivery and access to the Russian-speaking community,” the expert notes.

Artem Sokolov, President of the Association of Internet Trade Companies (AKIT), agrees with this assessment of the Russian company’s prospects. “Dubai is a multicultural city with a high standard of living, where there are few local industries, but there is a high demand from the population for products for a healthy diet, including among the Russian-speaking audience located there,” he explains. However, the demand will be formed not only at the expense of the Russian audience – the residents of Dubai are accustomed to imported food products and are generally ready to try new things, the expert believes.

Vkusvill launched the sale of its products in Dubai through the YallaMarket express delivery service. About it reported March 7 in the press service of the Russian company. Before the start of sales, both participants in the collaboration tested the demand for goods, after which the originally planned assortment was increased five times. The message of Vkusvill specifies that payment for the order is possible in any convenient way, including through Google Pay or using Russian bank cards. Delivery speed does not exceed 60 minutes.

In November 2022, Vkusvill launched test sales in China, and in December it began delivering goods to the CIS countries.