MOSCOW: X5 Retail Group, a leading Russian food retailer that operates the Pyaterochka, Perekrestok and Karusel chains, announced continued growth in online sales in May 2020.

Total revenue in May 2020 of the online supermarket Perekrestok.ru and express delivery services from Pyaterochka and Perekrestok was RUB 2.37 billion (including VAT), of which RUB 1.7 billion was attributable to Perekrestok.ru and RUB 673 million to the express delivery services.

This represents month-on-month growth of 40% from total online revenue of RUB 1.7 billion in April 2020; month-on-month sales growth was 41% for Perekrestok.ru and 34.6% for the Pyaterochka and Perekrestok express delivery services.

Online sales in Moscow and the Moscow region accounted for 3% of X5’s total sales in these geographies in May. Growth was up more than 7 times year-on-year for the month, while in April the year-on-year increase was 370%.

The number of orders completed in May through X5 online platforms exceeded 714,000, with 350,000 orders completed through Perekrestok.ru and 364,000 through express delivery services. In May 2020 the average check for the online supermarket was RUB 4,813, while for express deliveries from proximity stores and supermarkets it was RUB 1,849. The daily order completion rate for Perekrestok.ru is currently around 11,000 and for the express delivery services it is around 11,500.

Х5 Retail Group has been investing in building infrastructure for its online platforms since 2017. Perekrestok.ru was launched in Moscow in April 2017, and at the end of last year a pilot project for express deliveries from Pyaterochka stores started in Moscow.

In response to the COVID-19 pandemic the rollout of this project was significantly accelerated and in April of this year Perekrestok supermarkets also started providing an express delivery service. Currently, both of the e-grocery services with home deliveries offered by X5 are available in Moscow, the Moscow region, St Petersburg and the Leningrad region. In addition, express delivery from Pyaterochka proximity stores are available in Kazan and Krasnodar, while Perekrestok.ru is also available in Nizhny Novgorod.

Three out of five of the Perekrestok.ru online supermarket’s dark stores are reporting positive EBITDA, and new facilities in Vidnoye and Nizhny Novgorod are expected to achieve positive economics ahead of schedule.