Russia’s X5 Retail Group has posted a 1.0% increase in like-for-like sales in the second quarter of its financial year.
Total net retail sales at the group were up 19.4% year on year, with the majority of this growth (18.4%) coming from an increase in selling space (23.3%).
X5 added a net 477 new stores in the second quarter of the year.
Divisional Performance
Net retail sales for X5’s core formats Pyaterochka and Perekrestok increased by 21.0% and 22.8%, respectively, however its Karusel division posted growth of just 1.3%, ‘due to major refurbishment closures during the quarter’, the retailer said.
The like-for-like sales increase was up on the 0.5% gain the group reported in Q1, with X5 saying that sales were boosted by the short-term benefit of the World Cup, which took place in Russia in June.
The average basket size remained stable (+0.1%) at the group’s Perekrestok banner, and dipped slightly at its Pyaterochka operation (-0.5%). At Karusel, the average basket size was up 5.0%.
Food Price Deflation
The group noted that food deflation also influenced its performance in the quarter, saying that ‘Food inflation continued to decelerate to a new low in Q2 2018, from 1.3% in March to -0.2% in June.
‘For the three-month period, food inflation in Q2 2018 decreased to 0.4%, from 1.0% in Q1 2018.’
The group noted that its online grocery channel Perekrestok Online continued to expand, with the number of orders increasing by around a fifth in the period.
Since the launch of Perekrestok Online, average net retail sales per omni-channel customer (online + offline) have increased by 1.7 times in Moscow, the group added.
© 2018 European Supermarket Magazine – your source for the latest retail news. Article by Stephen Wynne-Jones. Click subscribe to sign up to ESM: The European Supermarket Magazine.
