Moscow, 18 November 2024 – X5 Group and the Central Union of Consumer Societies of the Russian Federation (Centrosoyuz), a non-profit, voluntary association of representatives of Russian consumer societies,have signed a strategic partnership to develop KOOP stores through X5’s Okolo franchise. The signatories to the agreement were Dmitry Zubov, Chairman of the Board of Centrosoyuz, and Igor Pletnev, Managing Director of Okolo.
Under the partnership, Okolo will provide KOOP stores (consumer cooperative stores in rural areas of Russia) with funds to invest in new, in-store equipment and will also build an upskilling system for retail workers at the Russian University of Cooperation.
“We develop small-format stores through our franchise programme as part of our strategy to boost our presence at each step of the customer journey. The Okolo franchise helps independent stores to improve their economics by providing access to X5’s advanced technologies and expertise as well as goods from X5’s product mix supplied at attractive prices. What is especially important to us is that, in addition to mutual economic benefits, our partnership with Centrosoyuz will make a significant contribution to improving the quality of life for millions of people living in rural and hard-to-access areas of Russia still served by more than 25,000 consumercooperative stores,” said Igor Shekhterman, CEO of X5 Group.
“Our cooperative stores provide rural consumers not only with all the essentials but also with a wide range of local produce offered by both cooperators and our partners – local manufacturers, agricultural cooperatives and farmers. By partnering with the largest nationwide retailer, we will gain access to a wide selection of goods at affordable prices as well as advanced technology and the opportunity to upgrade our retail spaces. This will have a positive impact on the economics of cooperative stores and will deliver results that our customers are sure to appreciate. In this way, we are narrowing the service gap between rural and urban consumers,” said Dmitry Zubov, Chairman of the Board of Centrosoyuz.
Currently, 789 Okolo-branded stores operate in 18 regions of Russia: the Republic of Adygea, the Republic of Bashkortostan, the Republic of Karelia, the Chuvash Republic, the Krasnodar Territory, the Arkhangelsk, Vologda, Voronezh, Kaluga, Kemerovo, Leningrad, Nizhny Novgorod, Novosibirsk, Novgorod, Samara, and Tver Regions, and Moscow and the Moscow Region.
The consumer cooperative retail network in Russia includes 25,000 stores, 3,000 warehouses, and 43 wholesale hubs across 71 Russian regions. In 2023, cooperative retail sales totalled about RUB 127 billion, with more than 70% of cooperative retail facilities located in rural areas.