Russia's X5 Retail Group has opened its first distribution centre in the Republic of Karelia.
The 17,500 square-metre Petrozavodsk logistics facility will serve 152 Pyaterochka stores located in 62 towns and cities of Karelia and the Murmansk region.
The facility has three separate zones with specific temperature bands in each zone to store goods of various categories including fruit, vegetables, perishable products, and groceries.
It is also equipped with advanced facilities to ensure that goods remain fresh, and are available to meet the supply needs of the retailer.
An Opportunity For Local Producers
The new facility will help in cutting down expenditure on logistics, and provide local producers with the opportunity to increase sales by distributing their products to other regions.
The distribution centre is capable of handling products from as many as 230 suppliers, at its full capacity.
It is expected to boost the percentage of goods made by Karelian producers in the Pyaterochka product mix up to 15%.
The new facility has created around new 300 jobs, taking the total number of employees of the Pyaterochka retail chain to 1,500.
In August of this year, the retailer posted a 1.0% increase in like-for-like sales in the second quarter of its financial year.
© 2018 European Supermarket Magazine – your source for the latest retail news. Article by Dayeeta Das. Click subscribe to sign up to ESM: The European Supermarket Magazine.
