No quick fix: Wildberries may need years to restore warehouses in Russia
Wildberries facilities with a total area of more than 550,000 square meters were damaged in drone attacks (photo: Getty Images)
Partial restoration of one major Wildberries logistics complex will take at least six months and tens of millions of US dollars. During the repairs, the company is looking for backup capacity outside Russia.
Read more about how Russia's commercial real estate sector is responding to strikes on Wildberries in RBC-Ukraine's report.
Key points:
- Businesses are moving away from the model of a single large warehouse toward multiple regional hubs to reduce the risk of a complete shutdown of operations.
- A similar effect was already seen in Ukraine: after the destruction of West Logistic Park in the Kyiv region, with more than 93,000 square meters of rental space, the market immediately faced a shortage of modern warehouse facilities.
- The RWB Group is already looking for additional warehouses in Kazakhstan and is ready to lease almost all available logistics space in the country, including new facilities in Almaty and Astana.
- Partial restoration of the complex, which covers around 100,000 square meters, will require at least 6-8 months of work and tens of millions of dollars in investment.
- Damage caused by the destruction of Wildberries' real estate assets is estimated at nearly 60 billion rubles (around $762 million).
Drone attacks damaged Wildberries facilities with a total area of more than 550,000 square meters, accounting for around 10% of the company's overall capacity. According to Russia's Kommersant, the value of the damaged real estate is estimated at around 60 billion rubles (approximately $762 million).
To reduce the risk of a complete shutdown caused by attacks on Wildberries facilities, the business is moving toward a decentralized logistics model.
Rebuilding costs
Partial restoration of the 100,000-square-meter complex will require 6-8 months of work and tens of millions of dollars in investment. Full reconstruction will cost more than $70 million, excluding the goods stored inside, according to Oleksandr Bondarenko, CEO of the Investment Programs Bureau and founder of GreenInvest.
Based on this estimate, restoring more than 550,000 square meters of warehouse space could take around three years. However, the actual timeline will depend on the scale of damage at each facility, the ability to carry out repairs simultaneously, and the security situation.
Natalia Sokyrko, head of the warehouse real estate department at Expandia, notes that a similar situation has already occurred in Ukraine. After the destruction of West Logistic Park in the Kyiv region in 2022, the market immediately faced a shortage of warehouse space, and partial compensation for losses did not mean a rapid recovery of logistics capacity.
Escape to Kazakhstan
The RWB Group, which operates Wildberries, has already started searching for additional warehouse space in Kazakhstan. The company is interested in facilities with a total area of around 100,000 square meters and is ready to lease virtually all available logistics space in the country.
RWB is already building a warehouse complex of more than 100,000 square meters in Almaty, while another 160,000-square-meter facility is under construction in Astana and is expected to open next year.
However, warehouse rental rates in Kazakhstan have already nearly reached Moscow levels, while storing goods for Russian customers outside the country significantly increases transportation costs and extends delivery times, Russia's Kommersant reports.
