Image: X5 Retail Group
Russia’s largest food retailer, X5 Retail Group, announced third quarter like-for-like sales rose by 6.9 percent, the fastest pace in over three years, showing resilience and new patters in local shopping in the post lockdown era.
Net retail sales increased by 15.4 percent year-on-year in ruble terms, driven by the like-for-like expansion and continued opening of new stores.
X5, which operates more than 17,000 stores, added 327 new stores on a net basis last quarter, most in the Pyaterochka proximity format (289), as well as 43 Perekrestok supermarkets.
Pyaterochka brand shops, X5’s proximity format, saw their best quarterly growth in two years in the third quarter, as many offices switched to remote working and more people chose to shop closer to home in response to the COVID-19 pandemic.
“The [proximity] format continued to enjoy traffic gains from traditional retail stores and hypermarkets,” according to Artur Galimov, a senior analyst at Sova Capital.
The coronavirus pandemic has changed shopping habits both globally and in Russia.
Online revenue jumped more than two-and-a-half times, X5 said, as more Russians also started buying their groceries online.
The situation is dynamic, and many unknowns remain about the fall and winter seasons.
Market watchers are awaiting a strategy update from X5 for a glimpse into the retailer’s thinking about the future. X5 will hold its virtual capital markets day on Oct 27.
