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bne February 2022 Eastern Europe I 79
has put paid to the myth that healthy eating is the preserve of a Western clique of super-mums. With Russian life expectancy at a record high (73 years), market researcher GfK says that 58% of Russians now take health factors into account when they shop. “We believe that more and more people will opt
for fresher and healthier choices and conscious consumption,” Alasheev said. “And that includes fewer food miles and a better internal culture in the company,” he added.
ESG
These last points led to the question of ESG. When asked about ESG initiatives, Alasheev seemed slightly puzzled. “We aren’t just doing some initiatives, our whole essence is ESG... First of all,
we don’t sell bad products. This is our whole appeal – we propose products which are socially responsible. If you shop with us, you won’t be able to buy cigarettes, you won’t be able to buy vodka, or even popular sweet beverages. We consciously lose sales: if we offered
cigarettes in our convenience stores, we would be getting more, but we refuse to do that,” he explained.
“The other thing we do is to work predominantly with local small and medium enterprises,” Alasheev said. “So among our suppliers you won’t see globally available huge multinational companies. It’s predominantly smaller, local businesses. By doing that, we support the territories we’re operating in. Also, it gives us the ability to have low food miles. Since we sell fresh products, we’re offering things which are mostly produced nearby.”
“But on top of that, we are the largest battery collector in the country, and
we have recyclable packaging and all that stuff,” Alasheev added almost cursorily. “I see these as more standard programmes – we run them, and we are even leading in the country in some of these areas, but to me we are much more than that – starting from our assortment, our supply, and how we work with people inside the company.”
E-commerce
But even at this stage in its development, with a clearly articulated mission and 20,000 staff, Vkusvill is still confronted with new challenges as it grows. "If you ask anyone, I think, they'll tell you that the largest thing in the last year has been the move online," said Alasheev categorically. "As consumers turn to online formats, it's now a growing market, with triple-digit numbers. The biggest challenge at the moment is how to address that. We have a new set of competitors coming into the foodtech and retail market, and these new competitors are used to working in markets where they can afford to work on narrow margins - coming from the technology side, for example," Alasheev said.
Indeed, the appearance of e-grocery companies backed by tech company Yandex and banking giant Sberbank demonstrates what a diverse range of players are throwing their hats into the ring, hoping to secure a slice of the very lucrative grocery delivery market.
Alasheev clearly has no illusions
about how competitive this process
will be, but he seems upbeat about it, confident that Vkusvill has the edge.
As recently as 2020, Vkusvill had close to zero e-commerce presence. Now,
it is the leading player in Moscow for online groceries. Just like its growth from a single dairy stall to a chain of stores, Alasheev puts this explosive increase in trade down to innovation, experimentation, and simply good ideas. "We were one of the first in Russia to deliver for free with no minimal limit," he points out. In addition to its 100 dark stores, Vkusvill also dispatches deliveries from its normal stores, meaning it can
“We’re the fastest-growing FMCG brand in Russia. And that’s not calculated on a low base – we’re also the largest FMCG brand in Russia. There’s a lot of demand for what we offer”
Yury Alasheev, Member of the Board of Directors, VkusVill
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