What is Magnit? Magnit Review, Features

Founded in 1994 in Krasnodar, southern Russia, Magnit is a small regional company and one of the leading food retail chains in Russia in terms of number of stores and geographical locations.

About Magnit

Magnit is an independent company in the Russian retail industry. Along with the sale of goods, the retail chain engages in the production of food products under its own brand. The company operates several vegetable, grocery and confectionery businesses; Magnit is also included in the Forbes Global 2000 list of the world's largest public companies and ranks high in Forbes' rating of Russia's largest private employers, with a total number of employees exceeding 300,000.

Development History

-1994-1998, household chemicals wholesale company "Tander" founded by Sergei Galitsky; actively developed a network of wholesale stores, entered the top ten distributors of cosmetics, household chemicals and perfumes in Russia; entered the grocery retail market in the form of cash and carry;

-1998-2001, the emergence of the "Magnit" brand (Low Tariffs Store) and the beginning of chain development under the new brand, the creation of its own automobile transport enterprise - "Celta" company, the launch of the first line of products under its own label, the transition of "Magnit" to the discount store model, the opening of the first 160 stores, which put Magnit in the leading position in Russia in terms of chain size;

- In 2002-2005, the first distribution center was opened in Kropotkin, Krasnodar Territory, and the entire network was restarted in the form of convenience stores, which is the key for Magnit now, and the chain is developing rapidly: at the end of 2005, there were 1500 retail outlets, "Magnit" closed the wholesale business of cosmetics and daily chemicals, and fully focused on the retail business;

-2006-2009, the company launched its new business format - compact urban hypermarkets - through an initial public offering (IPO) on the London Stock Exchange. Deloitte was named the fastest growing retail company in the world. The company also raised funds for network development through a secondary offering (SPO) on the London Stock Exchange. Magnit was the first retailer to switch to importing its most popular products.

- 2010-2012, opening of the first store in the form of a drogerie "Magnet Cosmetic", launching of own vegetable and herb production in the Krasnodar Territory - greenhouse complex "Green Line", Magnet became the largest private employer in Russia and maintains this position to this day , emergence of a new business format - "Home Magnet" ;

- In 2013-2015, the largest retail company in terms of the number of stores, retail space, efficiency and sales volume, Magnit's market capitalization on the Moscow Exchange exceeded 1 trillion rubles, Magnit Cosmetic became the largest lingerie chain in Russia, in "Magnet" there was an opportunity to pay for purchases using bank cards, as well as the first self-service checkouts, the number of Magnit stores exceeded 10,000, construction of its own industrial park "Krasnodar" began.

- 2016 - 2018: launch of new formats "Magnit Pharmacy" and "Magnet Wholesale", opening of the first distribution center outside the Arctic Circle (Murmansk), opening of the 37th distribution center for the company, opening of its own mushroom cultivation plant in the Krasnodar Territory, VTB Group acquires 29.1% of Magnit shares, resignation of Sergey Galitsky, introduction of the development strategy until 2023, start of construction of the first resident of the Krasnodar Industrial Park - "Kuban Bakery Products Factory", Magnit Cosmetic becomes the largest player in the Russian cosmetics and perfume retail industry.

- In 2019, Jan Dunning was appointed President and CEO of the company, a new cross-format brand was presented for all Magnit stores, the 20,000th store "at home" and the 5,000th "Magnet Cosmetics" were opened, the second resident of the industrial park "Krasnodar" - "Kuban Confectioner" was launched, new formats were tested - Superstore, Magnit City, the launch of its own loyalty program "Magnet" for customers, the beginning of cooperation between "Magnit" and the Russian Football Federation and the Russian National Football Team, the launch of a new logistics strategy "Fresh Chain".

- In 2020, we completed the rollout of the loyalty program in all regions where the company is present, created the largest fandom network in Russia in partnership with P&G, launched the #Magnit Zabota social program and delivered more than 350,000 food packs, appointed Florian Jansen as Magnit CEO, accelerated large-scale digital transformation, adopted a sustainability strategy until 2025, launched the corporate accelerator to find innovations MGNTech, opened the first My Price discount stores , development of e-commerce and e-pharmacy: launch of six online delivery projects - owned and partnered , opening of a new distribution center in Novosibirsk and restoration of a distribution center in Voronezh , joining the UN Global Compact , opening of convenience stores for large cities , start of implementation phase of transformation plan E , opening of the first themed supermarket , launch of the Green Office program , opening of the first retail store in Ingushetia , launch of MagnitPay , implementation of Relex-based Solutions' unified system for forecasting merchandise demand and planning inventory.

Strategic Goals

Strengthen current federal leadership by increasing market share while maintaining business profitability.