Samokat
{{Short description|Russian express delivery service for food and household goods}}
{{Infobox company
| name = Samokat
| logo =
| image =
| image_caption =
| native_name = Самокат
| native_name_lang = ru
| former_name = Magazinchik ({{langx|ru|Magazinchik}})
| type = private company
| industry = e-grocery
| founded = {{Start date and age|2017}} in Saint Petersburg, Russia
| founder = Rodion Shishkov, Slava Bocharov
| hq_location = 11a Sedova St.
| hq_location_city = Saint Petersburg
| hq_location_country = Russia
| num_locations = around 1100 dark stores
| num_locations_year = 2022
| area_served = 49 cities of Russia
| services = rapid delivery from dark stores
| revenue = 42,4 billion rubles
| revenue_year = 2021
| operating_income =
| income_year =
| profit =
| profit_year =
| owner =
| num_employees = 30,000
| num_employees_year = 2021
| website = {{URL|samokat.ru}}
| footnotes =
}}
Samokat is a Russian dark store rapid delivery service for food and household goods. 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 and Russian Post executive, Rodion Shishkov, and Magnit deputy CEO, Slava Bocharov. The two business partners were introduced in the early 2010s by Ilya Oskolkov-Tsentsiper and cooperated on the digital transformation of the Russian Post.{{cite web |url=https://incrussia.ru/fly/samokat/ |title="Our mission is to save people some time." The history of Samokat takng over the rapid delivery market |author=Ivan Chesnokov |date=April 2, 2020 |publisher=Inc. |access-date=December 1, 2022}} They first used the dark store delivery model in the 2017 project Smart.Space that improved service convenience in business centers and housing estates and offered a 15-minute delivery of a limited variety of food and household goods through its app storefront Magazinchik ({{langx|ru|a small shop}}). 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.{{cite web |url=https://www.pravilamag.ru/articles/304053-kak-postavit-rossiyu-a-teper-i-ssha-na-samokat-istoriya-rodiona-shishkova/ |title=Rodion Shishkov on Samokat |publisher=Esquire |access-date=December 1, 2022}}{{cite web |url=https://www.forbes.ru/karera-i-svoy-biznes/393469-samokat-za-700-millionov-kak-voennyy-i-ekonomist-pridumali-dostavlyat |title=A Samokat worth $700 million: an ex-military and an economist launched a 15-minute rapid delivery and beat Yandex |author=Ksenia Demidkina |date=February 25, 2020 |work=Forbes |access-date=December 1, 2022}}{{cite web |url=https://pro.rbc.ru/demo/5d289d6f9a79470105f4b280 |title=Gordeev invested in Samokat. Rapid delivery services keep pushing traditional stores |author=Nadezhda Fedorova, Olga Dubravitskaya, Irina Parfentieva |date=July 12, 2019 |publisher=RBC |access-date=December 1, 2022}}{{cite web |url=https://www.the-village.ru/business/businessmen/385151-samokat |title=Samokat: the dark store delivery service that was before Yandex Lavka |date=July 15, 2020 |publisher=The Village |access-date=October 8, 2022}}
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, which handled 8,000 deliveries monthly. In June 2019, Samokat received a USD 10 million investment from PIK Group's investment branch PIK Investments, which allowed the company to start operations in Moscow 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: by May 2020, Samokat reached 1 million monthly deliveries, outplacing other delivery apps and traditional retailers offering delivery services.{{cite web |url=https://incrussia.ru/news/samokat-obognal-pyatyorochku/ |title=Samokat beat Pyaterochka and Perekrestok by the number of online orders |date=May 7, 2020 |publisher=Inc. |access-date=December 1, 2022}} Meanwhile, in April 2020, a joint venture of Mail.ru Group and Sberbank acquired a 75.6% share in Samokat.{{cite web |url=https://incrussia.ru/news/samokat-mail-sberbank/ |title=Mail.ru Group and Sberbank acquired Samokat |date=April 2, 2020 |publisher=Inc. |access-date=December 1, 2022}} Through 2020 to 2022, the company expanded operations to 39 cities and opened up to 1000 dark stores.{{cite web |url=https://www.dp.ru/a/2022/04/08/Otkatili |title=Samokat ceased operations in small cities and closed several dark stores |author=Darya Zaytseva |date=April 8, 2022 |publisher=Delovoy Peteburg |access-date=December 1, 2022}}
= Buyk =
Following the success of Samokat in Russia, Shishkov and Bocharov launched a US-based dark store delivery company Buyk,{{cite web |url=https://www.businessinsider.com/buyk-pitch-deck-samokat-cash-instant-grocery-delivery-2021-8 |title=An instant grocery app founder showed us the pitch deck he used to raise $46 million and explains why VCs are throwing wild amounts of cash at the sector |author=Callum Burroughs |date=August 16, 2021 |publisher=Business Insider |access-date=December 1, 2022}} which used parts of Samokat's technological backend.{{cite web |url=https://thebell.io/rossijskij-servis-dostavki-produktov-samokat-zapuskaetsya-v-ssha |title=Samokat, the Russian rapid delivery service, will launch in the US |author=Valeria Zhitkova |date=June 2, 2021 |publisher=The Bell |access-date=December 1, 2022}} The venture was supported by Fort Ross Ventures and Lev Leviev's LVL1 venture fund.{{cite web |url=https://www.intellinews.com/how-two-russian-founded-startups-in-the-us-became-collateral-victims-of-putin-s-war-on-ukraine-237962/ |title=How two Russian-founded startups in the US became collateral victims of Putin's war on Ukraine |date=March 14, 2022 |publisher=bne Intellinews |access-date=December 1, 2022}} Buyk began operations in New York City in September 2021 and in Chicago 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.{{cite news |url=https://www.washingtonpost.com/business/2022/06/02/russia-sanctions-ultrafast-delivery-buyk/ |title=How Russia sanctions helped kill 15-minute delivery in New York |author=Soo Youn |date=June 2, 2022 |newspaper=The Washington Post |access-date=December 1, 2022}} On March 17, 2022, the company filed for bankruptcy.{{cite web |url=https://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2022-03-17/russia-backed-delivery-app-buyk-files-for-bankruptcy-in-n-y |title=Instant Grocery Delivery App Buyk Files for Bankruptcy After Russian Sanctions |author=Jeremy Hill, Jackie Davalos |date=March 17, 2022 |publisher=Bloomberg |access-date=December 1, 2022}}
Business model
File:Сумка «Самоката» на мопеде без курьера (Москва, Братеево, 01.05.2022).jpg in Moscow]]
Samokat operates a network of dark stores (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 couriers.{{cite web |url=https://cheb.media/2021/12/14/samokat-darkstor/ |title=A 15-minute delivery: Samokat, darkstores, and couriers |date=December 14, 2021 |publisher=Cheb.media |access-date=December 1, 2022}} In 2022, the company opened several big dark stores (up to 450 m2) in Moscow and Saint Petersburg to deliver small wholesale orders.{{cite web |url=https://oborot.ru/news/samokat-nashel-sposob-konkurirovat-s-magazinami-diskaunterami-i162883.html |title=Samokat found a way to compete with the discount shops |date=June 14, 2022 |publisher=Oborot |access-date=December 1, 2022}}
Samokat offers the same goods as convenience stores: grocery, pastry, meat, vegetables, household goods, baby items, and pet food. By 2022, the company offered around 800 private-label SKUs, including gluten-free 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 products with alternative meat, fish, meat preparations, and pastry made without animal products.{{cite web |url=https://incrussia.ru/news/samokat-14-startapov/ |title="Самокат" начнет продавать продукты на растительной основе от 14 российских стартапов|trans-title=Samokat to offer vegan products from local producers |date=January 31, 2022 |publisher=Inc. |access-date=December 1, 2022}}
Regular dark stores provide 2,500 SKUs, big dark stores offer 1,000 SKUs of wholesale goods.{{cite web |url=https://www.dp.ru/a/2021/01/20/Kurerskoe_ralli |title=Samokat opened big dark stores with a 1.5-hour delivery in Saint Petersburg and Moscow |date=January 20, 2021 |publisher=Delovoy Petersburg |access-date=December 2, 2022}} 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.{{cite web |url=https://www.retail.ru/photoreports/samokat-kak-rabotaet-servis-ekspress-dostavki/ |title=Samokat: how the rapid delivery works |author=Ludmila Klyzhenko |date=March 12, 2021 |publisher=Retail.ru |access-date=December 2, 2022}}{{cite web |url=https://incrussia.ru/news/samokat-assortiment/ |title=Samokat now offers small appliances and beauty products |date=March 18, 2021 |publisher=Inc. |access-date=December 2, 2022}} In 2022, the company launched a separate online storefront with over 7,000 SKUs of beauty products and a social media for beauty professionals.{{cite web |url=https://www.retail.ru/news/samokat-nachal-dostavlyat-kosmetiku-i-parfyumeriyu-v-moskve-10-fevralya-2022-213735/ |title=Samokat opened the delivery of beauty products and perfume in Moscow |date=February 10, 2022 |publisher=Retail.ru |access-date=December 1, 2022}}{{cite web |url=https://www.elle.ru/krasota/vizazhisty-kosmetologi-stilisty-i-byuti-blogery-ne-ostanutsya-bez-raboty-samokat-zapuskaet-studiyu-krasoty/ |title=Samokat launches a beauty studio |date=March 29, 2022 |publisher=Elle |access-date=December 2, 2022}}{{cite web |url=https://retail-loyalty.org/news/samokat-sozdal-novyy-proekt-studiya-byuti/ |title=Samokat launched a Beauty Studio project |date=2022-03-29 |publisher=Retail Loyalty |access-date= December 2, 2022}}
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.{{cite web |url=https://pro.rbc.ru/news/61dd84249a7947b64d6e1b81 |title=Delivery collapse: how the shortage of couriers will affect delivery market |author=Dmitry Nikitin |date=January 26, 2022 |publisher=RBC Pro |access-date=December 2, 2022}}
Company
Samokat is controlled by the e-commerce-focused O2O Holding, partially owned by Sberbank (which has a share below 50%). Shishkov, Bocharov, and the company's top management hold minority shares.{{cite web |url=https://www.rbc.ru/technology_and_media/23/08/2022/63049f849a79470b81011ac2 |title=VK and Yandex exchanged assets. Few important details. |date=August 23, 2022 |publisher=RBC |access-date=December 1, 2022}}
By 2022, Samokat operated 1092 dark stores (+120% year-on-year growth) in 49 Russian cities, being the largest dark store network in Europe (and the US), outplaced only by its Chinese counterpart Missfresh.{{cite web |url=https://www.forbes.ru/newsroom/biznes/437911-samokat-operedil-zapadnyh-konkurentov-po-chislu-darkstorov |title=Samokat outplaced western competitors in the number of dark stores |author=Rinat Tairov |author2=Tatyana Romanova |author3=Irina Yuzbekova |date=August 23, 2021 |work=Forbes |access-date=December 1, 2022}} As of December 2022, it employed over 30,000 people, including staff and independent contractors, as couriers.{{cite web |url=https://www.retail.ru/news/samokat-otkryl-1000-darkstor-27-dekabrya-2021-212454/ |title=Samokat opened its 1000th dark store |date=December 27, 2021 |publisher=Retail.ru |access-date=December 1, 2022}}
In 2021, Samokat delivered 70 million orders (+300% compared to 2020).{{cite web |url=https://e-pepper.ru/news/vk-otchitalas-o-rabote-ecommerce-proektov.html |title=VK reported on the performance of its e-commerce projects |date=April 28, 2022 |publisher=E-pepper |access-date=December 1, 2022}} In August 2022 alone, Samokat made 10.5 million deliveries (15% of 2021 results), effectively handling around 35% of all rapid deliveries in Russia.{{cite web |url=https://new-retail.ru/novosti/retail/tret_zakazov_rossiyskogo_rynka_e_grocery_dostavlyaet_samokat8725/ |title=Samokat handles one third of the orders on the Russian e-grocery market |date=September 5, 2022 |publisher=New Retail |access-date=December 1, 2022}} According to the reports, in 2021, Samokat scored a revenue of 42.4 billion rubles (+320% year-on-year growth).{{cite web |url=https://www.retail.ru/news/samokat-dostavil-rekordnoe-kolichestvo-zakazov-mv-2021-godu-5-marta-2022-214485/ |title=Samokat set a record in the number of deliveries in 2021 |date=March 5, 2022 |publisher=Retail.ru |access-date=December 1, 2022}}