Russian retailer Fix Price has announced the opening of its 4,500th store, with the milestone outlet opening in St Petersburg earlier this week.
During the first five months of the year, the retailer has opened 333 new stores, including its first outlets in Gubkinsky (Yamalo-Nenets Autonomous Okrug), Snezhnogorsk (Murmansk Region) and Vikhorevka (Irkutsk Region).
“One of the company’s strategic priorities is expansion in our key market of Russia as well as abroad," commented Fix Price CEO Dmitry Kirsanov.
"Over the past five years, the size of our network has more than doubled to 4,500 stores, which was possible thanks to our highly scalable business model and the 100% standardisation of our stores."
In April, Fix Price announced that its first-quarter revenue rose by close to a third, following its successful recent IPO.
Variety Value Retailing
The group said that it is well-positioned to take advantage of a shift towards value retailing in Russia; since 2015, the 'variety value' retail market has grown by 21% on average, annually.
"Despite such solid growth, however, the format’s size and degree of penetration in Russia’s regions still lags behind foreign markets," Kirsanov added, a gap that Fix Price is seeking to fill.
“In addition to strengthening our positions in large cities, we see considerable potential for expansion of the network in small towns," he said. "In June, the Company plans to open its first stores in new cities in the Republics of Buryatia and Tyva, Zabaykalsky Krai, the Sakhalin Region, and the Yamalo-Nenets and Khanty-Mansi Autonomous Okrugs.
"We carefully study demand on the part of shoppers, understand their needs and create an offer of necessities and in-demand items at affordable prices for a wide range of our customers at various income levels.”
Fix Price currently operates stores in more than 1,000 towns and cities in 78 regions of Russia, as well as in the neighbouring countries of Belarus, Georgia, Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, Latvia and Uzbekistan.
© 2021 European Supermarket Magazine. Article by Stephen Wynne-Jones. For more Retail news, click here. Click subscribe to sign up to ESM: European Supermarket Magazine.
