dark store
A dark store (also dark shop, dark supermarket or dotcom centre) is a retail outlet or distribution centre that exists exclusively for online shopping. A dark store is generally a large warehouse that can be used either to facilitate a "click-a ...
rapid delivery service for food and
household goods
Household goods are goods and products used within households. They are the tangible and movable personal property placed in the rooms of a house, such as a bed or refrigerator.
Economic role
Businesses that produce household goods are categori ...
. Founded in 2017, it was the first dark store operator in the country. By 2022, Samokat owned around 1,100 dark stores in 49 cities and handled 35% of dark store deliveries Russia-wide.
History
Samokat was founded by former
Yota
Yota () is a Russian mobile virtual network operator.
Formerly, Yota was a Russian mobile phone brand and mobile broadband manufacturer. Yota was a trademark of Skartel LLC. Yota later suffered bankruptcy due to a lawsuit.
Garsdale Services I ...
and
Russian Post
Russian Post ( rus, Почта России, a=RU-Почта России.wav, ''Pochta Rossii'') is an List of legal entity types by country#Russia, Aktsionernoye Obschestvo (AO, private limited company)Rodion Shishkov, and
Magnit
Magnit (Магнит, "Magnet") is one of Russia's largest food retailers. It was founded in 1994 in Krasnodar by Sergey Galitsky. As of March 2016, the company had 12,434 stores in 2,385 locations. They include 9,715 convenience stores, 225 ...
deputy CEO, Slava Bocharov. The two business partners were introduced in the early 2010s by
Ilya Oskolkov-Tsentsiper
Ilya Vladimirovich Oskolkov-Tsentsiper (born 30 September 1967, Moscow, USSR), social designer, media manager and entrepreneur, inventor, charismatic pioneer. Founder of Afisha magazine, and president of the Strelka Institute for Media, Architec ...
and cooperated on the
digital transformation
Digital transformation (DT) is the process of adoption and implementation of digital technology by an organization in order to create new or modify existing products, services and operations by the means of translating business processes into a d ...
of the Russian Post. They first used the
dark store
A dark store (also dark shop, dark supermarket or dotcom centre) is a retail outlet or distribution centre that exists exclusively for online shopping. A dark store is generally a large warehouse that can be used either to facilitate a "click-a ...
delivery
model
A model is an informative representation of an object, person, or system. The term originally denoted the plans of a building in late 16th-century English, and derived via French and Italian ultimately from Latin , .
Models can be divided in ...
in the 2017 project ''Smart.Space'' that improved service
convenience
Convenient procedures, products and services are those intended to increase ease in accessibility, save resources (such as time, effort and energy) and decrease frustration. A modern convenience is a labor-saving device, service or substance ...
in
business centers
A central business district (CBD) is the commercial and business center of a city. It contains commercial space and offices, and in larger cities will often be described as a financial district. Geographically, it often coincides with the "cit ...
and
housing estate
A housing estate (or sometimes housing complex, housing development, subdivision (land), subdivision or community) is a group of homes and other buildings built together as a single development. The exact form may vary from country to count ...
s and offered a 15-minute delivery of a limited variety of food and household goods through its app storefront ''Magazinchik'' (). In late 2017, Magazinchik was split into a separate app (and renamed 'Samokat' in April 2019), which became the first specialized rapid delivery service in
Russia
Russia, or the Russian Federation, is a country spanning Eastern Europe and North Asia. It is the list of countries and dependencies by area, largest country in the world, and extends across Time in Russia, eleven time zones, sharing Borders ...
.
With USD 2.5 million in funding from founders and private investors, by the end of 2018, the company grew to 5 dark stores in
Saint Petersburg
Saint Petersburg, formerly known as Petrograd and later Leningrad, is the List of cities and towns in Russia by population, second-largest city in Russia after Moscow. It is situated on the Neva, River Neva, at the head of the Gulf of Finland ...
, which handled 8,000 deliveries monthly. In June 2019, Samokat received a USD 10 million investment from
PIK Group
PIK, officially Public Joint Stock Company «PIK-specialized homebuilder» (), is a leading european homebuilder and construction company headquartered in Moscow. Being the largest housing developer in Russia and Europe, PIK specializes in const ...
's investment branch ''PIK Investments'', which allowed the company to start operations in
Moscow
Moscow is the Capital city, capital and List of cities and towns in Russia by population, largest city of Russia, standing on the Moskva (river), Moskva River in Central Russia. It has a population estimated at over 13 million residents with ...
and open 70 more dark stores. By the end of 2019, Samokat made over 100,000 deliveries each week. The rapid delivery market skyrocketed during the
COVID-19 pandemic
The COVID-19 pandemic (also known as the coronavirus pandemic and COVID pandemic), caused by severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2), began with an disease outbreak, outbreak of COVID-19 in Wuhan, China, in December ...
: by May 2020, Samokat reached 1 million monthly deliveries, outplacing other delivery apps and traditional retailers offering delivery services. Meanwhile, in April 2020, a joint venture of
Mail.ru Group
VK, known as Mail.ru Group until 12 October 2021, is a Russian technology company. It started in 1998 as the parent company of Mail.ru, an e-mail service and went on to become a major corporate figure in the Russian-speaking segment of the Int ...
and
Sberbank
The Public JSC Sberbank (, initially a contraction of ) is a Russian majority state-owned banking and financial services company headquartered in Moscow. As the Russian successor entity of the State Labor Savings Banks System of the USSR, it was ...
acquired a 75.6% share in Samokat. Through 2020 to 2022, the company expanded operations to 39 cities and opened up to 1000 dark stores.
Buyk
Following the success of Samokat in
Russia
Russia, or the Russian Federation, is a country spanning Eastern Europe and North Asia. It is the list of countries and dependencies by area, largest country in the world, and extends across Time in Russia, eleven time zones, sharing Borders ...
, Shishkov and Bocharov launched a US-based
dark store
A dark store (also dark shop, dark supermarket or dotcom centre) is a retail outlet or distribution centre that exists exclusively for online shopping. A dark store is generally a large warehouse that can be used either to facilitate a "click-a ...
delivery company Buyk, which used parts of Samokat's technological backend. The venture was supported by Fort Ross Ventures and Lev Leviev's LVL1 venture fund. Buyk began operations in
New York City
New York, often called New York City (NYC), is the most populous city in the United States, located at the southern tip of New York State on one of the world's largest natural harbors. The city comprises five boroughs, each coextensive w ...
in September 2021 and in
Chicago
Chicago is the List of municipalities in Illinois, most populous city in the U.S. state of Illinois and in the Midwestern United States. With a population of 2,746,388, as of the 2020 United States census, 2020 census, it is the List of Unite ...
in December 2021. By the time Russia launched the full-scale invasion into Ukraine, Buyk was between the funding rounds and fully dependent on bridge financing from its founders. On March 17, 2022, the company filed for
bankruptcy
Bankruptcy is a legal process through which people or other entities who cannot repay debts to creditors may seek relief from some or all of their debts. In most jurisdictions, bankruptcy is imposed by a court order, often initiated by the deb ...
.
Business model
Samokat operates a network of
dark store
A dark store (also dark shop, dark supermarket or dotcom centre) is a retail outlet or distribution centre that exists exclusively for online shopping. A dark store is generally a large warehouse that can be used either to facilitate a "click-a ...
s (from 180 to 220 m2) in densely populated areas. The average operational radius of dark stores is 1.5 km, which allows delivery of orders within 15 or 30 minutes (depending on local circumstances). The orders are made in the mobile apps, packaged by the dark store staff, and delivered by
bicycle courier
Bicycle messengers (also known as bike or cycle couriers) are people who work for courier companies (also known as messenger companies) carrying and delivering items by bicycle. Bicycle messengers are most often found in the central business dist ...
s. In 2022, the company opened several big dark stores (up to 450 m2) in Moscow and Saint Petersburg to deliver small wholesale orders.
Samokat offers the same goods as
convenience store
A convenience store, convenience shop, bakkal, bodega, corner store, corner shop, superette or mini-mart is a small retail store that stocks a range of everyday items such as convenience food, groceries, beverages, tobacco products, lotter ...
s:
grocery
A grocery store (American English, AE), grocery shop or grocer's shop (British English, BE) or simply grocery is a retail store that primarily retails a general range of food Product (business), products, which may be Fresh food, fresh or Food p ...
,
pastry
Pastry refers to a variety of Dough, doughs (often enriched with fat or eggs), as well as the sweet and savoury Baking, baked goods made from them. The dough may be accordingly called pastry dough for clarity. Sweetened pastries are often descr ...
,
meat
Meat is animal Tissue (biology), tissue, often muscle, that is eaten as food. Humans have hunted and farmed other animals for meat since prehistory. The Neolithic Revolution allowed the domestication of vertebrates, including chickens, sheep, ...
,
vegetables
Vegetables are edible parts of plants that are consumed by humans or other animals as food. This original meaning is still commonly used, and is applied to plants collectively to refer to all edible plant matter, including flowers, fruits, ...
,
household goods
Household goods are goods and products used within households. They are the tangible and movable personal property placed in the rooms of a house, such as a bed or refrigerator.
Economic role
Businesses that produce household goods are categori ...
, baby items, and
pet food
Pet food is animal feed intended for consumption by pets. Typically sold in pet stores and supermarkets, it is usually specific to the type of animal, such as dog food or cat food. Most meat used for animals is a byproduct of the human food indus ...
. By 2022, the company offered around 800 private-label SKUs, including
gluten-free
A gluten-free diet (GFD) is a nutritional plan that strictly excludes gluten, which is a mixture of prolamin proteins found in wheat (and all of its species and hybrids, such as spelt, kamut, and triticale), as well as barley, rye, and oats. ...
and alternative foods, which totaled 20% of revenue. In 2022, Samokat partnered with the Russian Association of Alternative Foods to expand its line of
vegetarian
Vegetarianism is the practice of abstaining from the Eating, consumption of meat (red meat, poultry, seafood, insects as food, insects, and the flesh of any other animal). It may also include abstaining from eating all by-products of animal slau ...
products with alternative meat, fish, meat preparations, and pastry made without animal products.
Regular dark stores provide 2,500 SKUs, big dark stores offer 1,000 SKUs of wholesale goods. Samokat also delivers of a wider variety of goods from its large warehouses with 5,000 SKUs through the dark stores in a couple of hours. In 2022, the company launched a separate online storefront with over 7,000 SKUs of beauty products and a social media for beauty professionals.
Samokat's technological backend includes a store management system (which monitors goods remains and expiry dates and helps dark stores' staff to package orders), a load prediction system that calculates the number of future orders based on customer behavior and other factors (such as weather and road works), and a delivery control system to manage a large distributed network of couriers.
Company
Samokat is controlled by the e-commerce-focused O2O Holding, partially owned by
Sberbank
The Public JSC Sberbank (, initially a contraction of ) is a Russian majority state-owned banking and financial services company headquartered in Moscow. As the Russian successor entity of the State Labor Savings Banks System of the USSR, it was ...
(which has a share below 50%). Shishkov, Bocharov, and the company's top management hold minority shares.
By 2022, Samokat operated 1092 dark stores (+120% year-on-year growth) in 49 Russian cities, being the largest dark store network in
Europe
Europe is a continent located entirely in the Northern Hemisphere and mostly in the Eastern Hemisphere. It is bordered by the Arctic Ocean to the north, the Atlantic Ocean to the west, the Mediterranean Sea to the south, and Asia to the east ...
(and the US), outplaced only by its
Chinese
Chinese may refer to:
* Something related to China
* Chinese people, people identified with China, through nationality, citizenship, and/or ethnicity
**Han Chinese, East Asian ethnic group native to China.
**'' Zhonghua minzu'', the supra-ethnic ...
counterpart Missfresh. As of December 2022, it employed over 30,000 people, including staff and independent contractors, as couriers.
In 2021, Samokat delivered 70 million orders (+300% compared to 2020). In August 2022 alone, Samokat made 10.5 million deliveries (15% of 2021 results), effectively handling around 35% of all rapid deliveries in Russia. According to the reports, in 2021, Samokat scored a revenue of 42.4 billion rubles (+320% year-on-year growth).