Sberbank announced plans to acquire 100% of the Stockmann department store chain. The deal should take place in the first half of 2022, according to the press release. The integration of Stockmann and SberMegaMarket marketplace is planned. The amount of the deal is not disclosed.
Sberbank and Yakov Panchenko, owner of Russian Stockmann, signed an agreement to jointly develop the fashion segment in the bank's ecosystem. The deal is planned to be done "after a comprehensive investment review", as well as coordination with the Federal Antimonopoly Service.
As a result of the transaction, Stockmann and the SberMegaMarket marketplace will be integrated.
"Combining the companies’ expertise will help strengthen Sber’s position in the e-commerce industry, multiply the proportion made up by fashion GMV in the ecosystem’s total e-com services turnover manyfold, and implement a number of new opportunities for the segment’s development," Sber believes.
Stockmann will be a fashion operator on the marketplace while still developing and strengthening its own business, including in e-commerce, Yakov Panchenko explained.
The CEO of SberMegaMarket, Solomon Kunin, in turn, said that thanks to the GMV deal, the fashion segment will account for about 20% of the total turnover of the marketplace in the next few years.
Mikhail Shikhmuradov, an expert of the BRICS Competition Centre, noted that Sber's net profit for 2021 exceeded 1.2 trillion rubles, which allowed the company to set a new record. However, the accounting department of the financial giant's ecosystem is constantly racking up losses, and this may be caused by the lack of experience of the teams in charge of non-core services. Despite the announced growth of merchandise turnover in 2021, Sber remains a low-profile player in online sales, whose combined revenue does not exceed 7-15% of the corresponding figures for Wildberries and Ozon (as of 2020).
According to Mikhail, the acquisition of Stockmann will help expand the assortment, consolidate management competencies, interaction with suppliers and support of trade activities and generally strengthen the role of the ecosystem among marketplaces.
"I believe that the Central Bank's concerns about the uncontrolled development of banks' ecosystems, which may turn out to be a threat to creditors and depositors, can be neglected, given Sber's profits. Therefore, Sber's business strategy can be viewed as an organic reflection of the ongoing digital transformation, which sets managerial and economic requirements for production efficiency through the construction of seamless integrated service lines," said the expert.
Stockmann Russia has 12 stores in Moscow, St. Petersburg, Yekaterinburg and Murmansk. In 2018, the retailer also launched an online store. Its monthly audience is declared at 1.5 million visitors. The company represents more than 600 brands of clothing and footwear, and goods for children and the home. In 2021, Stockmann's turnover amounted to 10 billion rubles.
Source: Kommersant
