Drone Attacks on Wildberries Warehouses Trigger Rethink of Russian Supply Chains

What Happened and Who Paid the Price

The physical damage to the warehouses is pegged at roughly 30 billion rubles ($381 million).

But the real pain is for the sellers who stored their products there. According to estimates cited in Russian media, their losses could amount to 170 billion rubles.

Wildberries is not a small operation. Last year, the total value of goods handled by Wildberries amounted to nearly three percent of Russia's entire economic output. The assaults initially knocked out around 10% of Wildberries' warehouse capacity.

Tatyana Kim, the billionaire who founded Wildberries, owns 65% of the combined company following a merger with Russ Group, Russia's biggest outdoor advertiser. The Bloomberg Billionaires Index puts her net worth at $8.8 billion.

How Russia's Biggest Retailers Are Reacting

Russia's largest grocery chains, including X5 Retail Group and Lenta IPJSC, are now investigating ways to spread their warehousing and stock across a wider array of sites to limit potential fallout from future incidents.

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A leading grocery retailer is adopting a more decentralized logistics strategy. Rather than constructing mega-distribution centers spanning 100,000 to 200,000 square meters, the firm plans to use a broader network of regional hubs of 10,000 to 30,000 square meters, ensuring that losing one site wouldn't halt operations. The plan also includes building distribution centers split into separate fire- and blast-resistant units, utilizing stores as local fulfillment points, and holding more inventory at supplier locations until just before it is needed.

Representatives of major grocery chains X5, Lenta, and Magnit PJSC, along with an Ozon spokesperson and the Russian government's press office, declined to comment when contacted. Dmitry Peskov, the Kremlin's spokesperson, said that authorities are in contact with the firm and described the situation as "difficult" because of the damage inflicted on Wildberries and small- to medium-sized enterprises.

Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy characterized the warehouse attacks as revenge for Russian strikes on Ukraine's infrastructure. Bloomberg News could not independently verify the information.

The Bigger Question for the Russian Economy

Larger businesses, such as Turkish clothing retailer Koton, have also incurred inventory losses.

Bloomberg Economics' View…

*A crucial uncertainty is whether this signals the beginning of a prolonged Ukrainian effort targeting logistics centers. The lasting effects would be decidedly unfavorable. Businesses might need to sacrifice efficiency for resilience by spreading out inventories, adding redundant capacity, and increasing security spending.

That would further undermine productivity, already a major bottleneck for Russia's long-term expansion. Additionally, higher logistics and operational costs would ultimately lead to increased prices for consumers.* - Ekaterina Vlasova, economist covering Central and Eastern Europe and Russia.

Wildberries reported that it is reviewing seller losses and will determine what assistance it can offer, though it has no legal obligation to compensate them.

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