Wildberries franchisees in Tatarstan start selling pick-up points

Tatarstan franchisee partners of Wildberries have begun to put up branded pick-up points (POIs) for sale. From the beginning of March to Avito 8 advertisements for the sale of pickup points appeared at once in Kazan, Naberezhnye Chelny and Yelabuga (there are about 100, 62 and 12 in these settlements, respectively). Not a single such announcement was placed either in December or January, and only one in February, and on February 28th.

The price range for sale in Kazan varies from 350,000 rubles. up to 1.75 million rubles behind a pickup point with an area of ​​up to 35-40 sq.m. The owners of the PVZ interviewed by Vedomosti deny the connection of this trend with the introduction of 100% withholding for the return of defective goods, but the time of these publications coincides with the beginning of the application of penalties (Wildberries introduced them from March 3, 2023).

It is possible that one of the owners of the pickup point really “got burned” on fines, but most sellers are simply frightened by the inexplicable policy of the marketplace, says Anna Shafigullina, a representative of the SellerMarket company (has her own pickup point).

“Those points that accept goods via FBS (when the seller stores the goods in their warehouse) do not plan to close in Kazan,” she said. “Real motives? Most likely, they either ran into fines or were frightened by the trend towards tightening the company’s policy. This policy is not very clear. After all, first Wildberries assigned a partial payment of 20% to the pickup point, and then 100%. Penalties always occur unexpectedly and it is difficult to predict performance. In order not to expect surprises, entrepreneurs, apparently, are trying to carefully move away, ”she explains the behavior of the owners of the pickup point.

The need to put up for sale “early” pickup points is due to the fact that the franchisee must work a certain amount of time in exchange for the received marketplace subsidies. Since March 13, Wildberries has been allocating 160,000 rubles to support the pickup point. in the first month, 120,000 rubles. – in the second month, and 80,000 – in the third month, according to the company’s website.

“Subsidies are not gifts. When they are issued, the conditions are prescribed for how long the pickup point should work, – explains Anna Shafigullina. – Usually, if the pickup point has worked for less than nine months, then penalties are imposed. Most likely, one of the sellers cannot close them, so he is forced to sell. At the same time, the Tatarstan owners of the PVZ did not participate in the recent strike attempt, several sources in the market told Vedomosti.

Another reason for abandoning the franchise is the single-brand pickup point, which Wildberries requires to comply with. Under the terms of the agreement, the entrepreneur is not entitled to provide services for issuing goods from other marketplaces, although OZON is more loyal to multi-brand pickup points.

“I don’t see a particular surge in sales of pickup points in Kazan. Perhaps this is just a shock reaction to the recent events that forced entrepreneurs to reassess the risks and exit the business,” said Yury Chikirov, General Director of the ReAgency Academy of Sciences.

According to a representative of Wildberries, “the market for pickup points is overheated and competition between pickups has increased sharply in 2023. Including in Tatarstan, we record high market saturation. Sometimes it comes to the point that at a distance of 100 meters there can be up to 5 pickup points of the same brand.”

According to the company, “it is because of the competition between the players that the closure or sale of partner pickup points occurs. At the same time, a number of locations remain where the opening of a pickup point is promising and especially profitable in terms of demand and offered tariffs.

In particular, these are Chukotka, Kamchatka, Vologda, Kostroma regions, Ingushetia and some other regions, as well as the CIS countries.” In total, according to the company’s information, there are about 30,000 own and partner pickup points in Russia. “We will continue to open new pickup points where they will be needed for buyers,” the press officer said.