Foreigners consolidate position in Russia

The foreign DIY retailers in Russia have consolidated their positions through high rates of growth. The French Leroy Merlin chain (Groupe Adeo) heads the list of the top ten in 2012, having increased its sales by 38.7 per cent last year to RUB 77 bn; its total number of stores saw an increase of four to 22. These figures were reported by Infoline, a market research company, at the Mosbuild trade fair in Moscow. Next in line is Obi, a German group with barely half the sales volume, which nevertheless amounted to € 34.6 bn and an increase of 22.1 per cent. Still in third place is the French Castorama chain, which belongs to the British Kingfisher Group. It increased its sales in Russia by 39.5 per cent to RUB 21.1 bn. The biggest domestic DIY retailer is Maxidom with sales of RUB 15.8 bn. Metrika is setting the most headlong pace of growth: through the addition of more than 30 stores it has increased its sales by 43.7 per cent to RUB 10.6 bn. The full list of the Russian top ten can be found in our DYglobal Plus section (see below: Other articles on this subject).