Russia’s Magnit starts testing new retail format of kiosks

MOSCOW, Jan 20 (PRIME) -- Russian retailer Magnit has launched a pilot format of retail kiosks, Albert Avetikov, the company’s director for investor relations, said late on Tuesday during an online conference of VTB Capital Investments.

“Out of the new formats that we are actively piloting, there is a format of a store for large cities with population exceeding 1 million people, a so-called ‘city’ format that supposes a slightly restricted assortment of goods as compared to a corner store, but with a larger focus on ready-made meals, snacks, and coffee,” he said.

“And the final format is a format of kiosks, it is about impulsive shopping. This is an absolutely new pilot format for us, we have just launched it, and it also encompasses a limited assortment of goods.”

Magnit said in a statement that it opened the first kiosk at the end of 2020 in its headquarters in the city of Krasnodar. Besides the newly-opened Kiosk Mini, the company also plans to open larger kiosks and branded vending machines, it said.

“The advantages of the kiosk format are low investment in launching one store, the lack of federal competitors, of cannibalization of the main formats of the company, independence from availability of vacant property,” the company said.

End