Nizhny Novgorod, 1 June 2020 – X5 Retail Group N.V. (“X5” or the “Company”), a leading Russian food retailer that operates the Pyaterochka, Perekrestok and Karusel chains (LSE and MOEX ticker: “FIVE”), announces that its Perekrestok.ru online supermarket has launched in Nizhny Novgorod. The region is the third one where the grocery delivery service is available following the Moscow metropolitan area and St Petersburg.
To handle online orders in Nizhny Novgorod, Perekrestok.ru opened its fifth dark store (a new format store accessible only to online supermarket staff responsible for processing and delivering online orders) ahead of schedule. The dark store is located in a former Karusel hypermarket on Moskovskoye Shosse that was shuttered as part of the chain’ transformation process. The facility has a total area of 12,000 sq m and storage capacity of 30,000 SKUs. The pilot run began in late May, nearly a month ahead of schedule.
Currently 100 employees operate the dark store using 15 trucks and handle some 200 orders per day. After reaching full capacity, the store will be able to process up to 4,000 orders per day and will employ 800 workers operating a fleet of 150 trucks. The launch of this new facility will increase the total capacity of Perekrestok.ru by 30%.
The dark store opened earlier than planned in response to growing demand for online purchases due to the COVID-19 pandemic. In late March, the number of online delivery requests in Nizhny Novgorod surged by 30 times, according to Yandex Wordstat. In other regions where Perekrestok.ru operates, the number of online orders on peak days in March exceeded 16,000, with the average ticket rising to RUB 6,000 and the number of items on the ticket reaching 80, nearly double the previous average. Demand has remained high, and in May Perekrestok.ru delivered an average of 11,000 orders per day.
The new dark store has put in place all the necessary safety measures. Employees and delivery drivers are provided with PPE, all facilities are regularly disinfected and employees’ health screened on a daily basis. To minimise contact between delivery drivers and customers, in Nizhny Novgorod Perekrestok.ru introduced contactless delivery, which is also available in other regions of operation.
“The decision to expand Perekrestok.ru to Nizhny Novgorod was made in response to the growing popularity of online purchases in the region and the availability of a suitable facility owned by X5. Amid the challenging COVID-19 situation, we accelerated the launch of the new dark store, and thanks to close teamwork were able to open it ahead of schedule. In the initial stage, delivery will only be available in Nizhny Novgorod, but later on we plan to roll it out to satellite towns and other localities throughout the region,” said Igor Shekhterman, X5 Retail Group CEO.
As in other regions of operation, Perekrestok.ru in Nizhny Novgorod is designed for large stock-up shopping. In the initial phase the product range will include 16,000 SKUs. Additionally, it will offer unique merchandise such as large-size packs of popular products or premium pet foods.
Online orders will either be delivered to the doorstep or picked up at the dark store (a new service by Perekrestok.ru). The minimum order is set at RUB 500 for self-pickup and RUB 1,000 for delivery. For orders over RUB 1,500, the delivery will be free but within longer time frames, while orders from RUB 2,000 will be delivered free of charge within a convenient two-hour window.