Wildberries modified plans for new warehouses after Bakalchuk’s dismissal

Logo center in the Orenburg region

In particular, the company may change the commissioning dates and the area of ​​the future warehouse in Orenburg. In December 2023, a positive conclusion of a non-state examination was received. The press service of the special economic zone (SEZ) “Orenburg” reported that Wildberries plans to build a warehouse of 156 thousand square meters on its territory. m The first stage is 50 thousand square meters. M was supposed to be commissioned in the spring of 2025, and construction was planned to be completed by mid-2027. Investments in the project at the end of 2023 were estimated at 7.8 billion rubles. The facility should become one of Wildberries’ largest warehouses.

According to Kontur.Zakupok, the market again commissions the development of a project for this warehouse. The company has not confirmed the launch of the first stage of the project in spring 2025; The exact parameters of the warehouse are still unknown. “The exact area of ​​the warehouse complex in Orenburg and its technical characteristics will be determined during the design,” the market’s press service explained. But they stressed that the logistics complex project is developing as planned and the company has already begun to design the facilities.

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The appearance of the center with the Wildberries logo in Orenburg will contribute to the development of small and medium-sized businesses in the region: sellers will be able to make deliveries to the warehouse more profitably, reduce logistics costs at other facilities and increase their turnover, he added. the company representative.

Warehouses in Rostov and Volgograd

At the end of 2024, Wildberries again received several positive expert opinions on the new design documentation for warehouse complexes, according to data from the Unified State Register of Plants. For example, in December experts issued a positive opinion on a warehouse complex in the Aksai district of the Rostov region, although that document had already been drawn up a year earlier. In February 2024, the general director of the Regional Development Corporation, former deputy head of the region, Mikhail Tikhonov, said that the complex has an area of ​​150 thousand square meters. m will be completed ahead of schedule: in 2025.

The Wildberries warehouse in Volgograd was planned to be completed in 2024, writes v1.ru with reference to a representative of the company. In November last year, the market clarified that the warehouse would be fully operational by early 2025. That same month, the company again received a positive decision on the project.

A representative of Wildberries confirmed to RB.RU that the company reissued documentation for several warehouse complexes after “an audit of the degree of compliance with project documentation.” “The specified measures will not affect the planned deadlines for the commissioning of the facilities and will not affect the activities of any of the parts of the platform business,” he emphasized.

The market added that currently the construction work on new facilities and the expansion of current warehouses continue normally. The total area of ​​all facilities is more than 2.3 million square meters. m, most are scheduled to come into operation in the first half of 2025.

Bakalchuk’s departure

Until mid-2024, the construction of the Wildberries warehouses was carried out by the Bakalchuk company VB Development LLC. It was she who was in charge of preparing the project documentation and obtaining approval. After the merger of Wildberries and the Russ group into RVB LLC, a new structure, VB Engineering LLC, took over construction and Bakalchuk was removed from the job. Bakalchuk refused to transfer the projects to the new company.

As Denis Kuznetsov, general director of VB Development, explained to RB.RU, Wildberries has to commission new projects, since the previous ones remained in the company VB Development LLC, so the process of construction and completion of the warehouses “takes several days.” a step back.”

“The design of such facilities is in itself a long process, which then goes through an equally long process of coordination and approval. As a result, warehouses under construction are “frozen” indefinitely, new facilities cannot be built either, and the shortage of warehouse space is already reaching a critical point,” Kuznetsov stressed. According to his assessment, the first stage of the warehouse in Orenburg will not be completed in spring, as in other facilities the situation is similar.

What to expect from sellers

If the opening time of warehouses really changes, then several sellers, especially those working on the FBO (Wildberries warehouse sales) model, will face a lack of space and a stricter limit on the acceptance of goods, regardless. Denis Goldman, a public relations consultant who previously headed the external press, told RB.RU, service of one of the main Russian markets.

“Deteriorating logistics may affect the position of products in Wildberries search results, as the system takes delivery speed into account when ranking them. This will lead to a decrease in orders and possible loss of rating. If warehouse space is limited, sellers will have to compete for the capacity to store goods, which could lead to higher tariffs or stricter assortment requirements,” the expert warned.

Currently, construction work on new facilities and expansion of current warehouses continues normally. The total area of ​​all facilities is more than 2.3 million square meters. m, most of the facilities are scheduled to come into operation in the first half of 2025.

Wildberries and Russ are also designing 11 logistics complexes with a total area of ​​more than 2.2 million square meters. m in Moscow, Moscow Region, Orenburg, Chelyabinsk, Smolensk, Ufa, Surgut, Ivanovo, Perm and Krasnoyarsk, the company said in December 2024. Experts interviewed by Vedomosti estimated the total investment in new projects between 130 and 176 billion of rubles.

Wildberries added that the commissioning of the logistics centers will employ several hundred thousand people. If all projects can be implemented, the company’s warehouse portfolio will become the largest in Russia at 4.7 million square meters. m. of real estate owned.