Wildberries searching for vacant warehouses in Kazakhstan amid series of fires

Tengrinews.kz — After a series of fires at logistics facilities in Russia, Wildberries has begun searching for available warehouses in Kazakhstan. According to Russian media, the company may lease up to 100,000 square meters of warehouse space.
According to Kommersant, citing sources in the real estate market, RWB Group, which develops the Wildberries marketplace, has begun looking for warehouse premises in Kazakhstan.
One of the publication’s sources said the company needs about 100,000 square meters. Another source claims Wildberries is ready to lease virtually all available high-quality warehouses currently on the country’s market.
According to the publication, the company is considering Kazakhstan as one of the sites for redistributing some sellers’ goods and maintaining the stability of its logistics network.
What Wildberries said
Wildberries told Tengrinews.kz that the development of logistics infrastructure in Kazakhstan is part of the company’s long-term plans.

“In the countries where it operates, the company is carrying out planned work to build logistics facilities. Some of them will be commissioned in the near future,” Wildberries said.

The company also confirmed that it continues to redistribute goods between logistics complexes.

“All our organizational efforts are now focused on redistributing goods across various warehouses for more convenient turnover and the economic stability of our partners,” the company noted.

Earlier, RWB also reported that construction of two large logistics facilities is continuing in Kazakhstan. One of them, with an area of more than 100,000 square meters, is being built in Almaty, while the second, covering 160,000 square meters, is under construction in Astana. It is scheduled to be commissioned next year.
Wildberries also noted that the main focus now is on redistributing goods between warehouses.

“All organizational efforts are now focused on redistributing goods across various warehouses for more convenient turnover and the economic stability of partners,” RWB’s press service said.

Why Kazakhstan is being considered
As Mikhail Burmistrov, CEO of Infoline Analytics, noted, Kazakhstan, Russia and Belarus are members of the Eurasian Economic Union, so goods can move freely between the countries.
According to him, the product assortment is already being distributed among logistics centers in different countries.

“Kazakhstani warehouses may contain goods from Russian sellers, while Russian warehouses may contain goods from Kazakhstani sellers. The balance of cross-border supplies may change as the business develops and the pool of sellers in foreign countries expands,” Mikhail Burmistrov explained.

At the same time, the expert believes that moving a significant share of Russian sellers’ goods to Kazakhstan is unlikely to be optimal in terms of operating costs and delivery times.
It should be noted that in recent weeks, fires have occurred at several Wildberries logistics facilities in Russia.
First, fires were reported at the company’s warehouses in Kotovsk in the Tambov region and Elektrostal in the Moscow region. According to official data, eight people died and about 50 were injured.
Later, fires occurred at logistics complexes in Krasnodar and Nevinnomyssk in the Stavropol region, then at facilities in the Leningrad region, Tver, Simferopol and the Ryazan region.
After the incidents, Wildberries said it had restructured its logistics processes. The company reported that goods were being redistributed between warehouses, while customers, including those from Kazakhstan, could place orders as usual.