STANDING in front of a bank of display screens in Krasnodar, Alexander Barsukov, an executive at the Russian grocery chain Magnit, can see that a hypermarket in Nizhnekamsk, a town of 230,000 people 1,900km (1,200 miles) away, is running low on “Group A” products—ones such as bread and milk that account for 20% of stock but 80% of sales. Mr Barsukov has the store manager notified to restock the shelves; a “control call” will follow up in 40 minutes. The point is to “catch mistakes fast,” he says.
It is this combination of advanced IT systems and efficient logistics that has propelled Magnit to the top of the Russian food-retail industry, a fast-growing, $300-billion-a-year market that is now Europe’s largest. In April, for the first time in its 15-year history, Magnit bested its competitors by posting $4.3 billion in quarterly sales. Long the underdog, Magnit has become an investors’ favourite: its share price has nearly doubled over the past 12 months.
