PJSC Sberbank : STOCKMANN to join the Sber ecosystem

Sber and Iakov Panchenko, owner of STOCKMANN (Russia), have signed an agreement of intent to develop the fashion segment in Sber's ecosystem together. The parties intend to sign a binding agreement under which Sber will acquire a 100% stake in STOCKMANN in 1H22 after conducting a comprehensive investment review and obtaining the necessary corporate approvals from the parties to the transaction and approval from Federal Antimonopoly Service of Russia.

STOCKMANN is a Russian fashion retailer specializing in the medium to premium segments. Today the company operates in Russia, featuring over 600 brands in the following categories: clothing, footwear, children's goods, and homeware. STOCKMANN currently has 12 offline stores in Russia: in Moscow, St. Petersburg, Yekaterinburg, and Murmansk. An online store was launched in 2018, an important milestone in the company's history that enabled it to develop click & collect. The stockmann.ru website garners a monthly audience of 1.5 million visitors. The company's turnover in 2021 came to RUB 10 bn.

STOCKMANN and the SberMegaMarket multi-category marketplace are set to become strategic partners and integrate with each other. 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. STOCKMANN's relations with popular global brands, its wide range of goods, and professional purchasing expertise in the clothing, footwear, and homeware categories are strong competitive advantages that distinguish STOCKMANN from other companies in the market. The combination of these factors will contribute to a higher segment development rate on the SberMegaMarket marketplace, which has established itself as an effective sales platform.

Lev Khasis, first deputy chairman of the Executive Board, Sberbank:

"I am certain that the development of the fashion category within Sber's e-com industry will serve as a key growth driver. What we do is aligned with the global trend toward building new omni-channel services of a different quality in the category that buyers view as essential."

Iakov Panchenko, board chairman, STOCKMANN:

"STOCKMANN was once the first European department store in this country that unveiled the world of foreign fashion and fashion brands to people in Russia. The department store in Russia opened its doors more than 32 years ago. Today, STOCKMANN is an omni-channel retailer with an extensive base of loyal customers and relations with fashion partners from across the world that have been tried and tested for years.

"STOCKMANN and SberMegaMarket uniting their efforts is a big step toward the development of the fashion category in the online segment. The concept of a strategic partnership between two strong players implies synergistic development - STOCKMANN will be a fashion operator on the marketplace while still developing and strengthening its own business, including through the stronger expertise in e-commerce that SberMegaMarket has.

"E-com evolves rapidly these days, with ever more convenient online services emerging for buyers. We believe that a truly omni-channel fashion retailer cannot limit itself to offline outlets and an online store only - we need to let our clients shop wherever they find convenient. This includes a marketplace.

"As to fashion partners, the STOCKMANN-SberMegaMarket integration is an opportunity to enhance their sales channels and enter the marketplace in the friendliest way possible while maintaining the environment they are used to."

Solomon Kunin, CEO, SberMegaMarket:

"Fashion is one of the top priorities and the fastest growing categories for us, even though we only started developing this segment about a year ago. The fourth quarter of 2021 saw a nine-fold increase in clothes, footwear, and accessories orders compared to the same stretch in 2020. The strategic partnership with STOCKMANN will enable us not only to add new offers on the marketplace through medium and premium brands, but will also open up a wide range of new opportunities for multi-channel sales. We hope that this is the beginning of a long and mutually beneficial cooperation, thanks to which the GMV of the fashion segment will account for about 20% of the total turnover of the marketplace in the next few years."