Tashkent, Uzbekistan (UzDaily.com) — In the second half of 2025, retail chain Korzinka plans to commission a new distribution center. According to the company’s 2024 annual report, the launch of the Class A facility, with a total area of 49,000 square meters, is scheduled for the third quarter.

Zafar Hashimov, Chairman of the Supervisory Board of Korzinka, emphasized that with the help of secured financing and the opening of this new logistics hub, the company’s team will focus on executing a large-scale development strategy. The main objective is to increase the number of retail outlets to 1,000 in the coming years.

CEO Rud Pedersen noted that most of the company’s 2024 investments were directed toward constructing the distribution center and upgrading stores under the Mahalla format. This affected the pace of organic growth — only 10 new supermarkets were opened during the year.

Once operational, the new center will replace four existing logistics sites, whose personnel will be transferred to the new facility. The hub will combine storage for regular, chilled, and frozen goods, with enough capacity to serve the next 500 stores.

Pedersen expressed confidence that centralized logistics will significantly reduce the volume of direct deliveries from suppliers to stores and improve shelf stocking. Alongside a new fruit and vegetable storage facility in the Fergana Valley, this will help broaden the product range and enhance the quality of fresh goods across all formats.

A significant portion of the center’s electricity needs will be met by a 1-megawatt solar panel system, with plans to increase capacity to 3 megawatts in the coming years.

Elena Maltseva, Korzinka’s Chief Financial Officer, reported that the distribution center project was the largest capital expenditure (CAPEX) item in 2024, with 291.2 billion soums allocated for its construction. After the launch, Korzinka plans to begin modernizing its existing warehouse infrastructure.

To fund the project, the company secured two major investment packages: $25 million from the International Finance Corporation (IFC) in November 2023 and another $25 million from Germany’s DEG, part of the state-owned KfW banking group, in September 2024.

Despite the high investment costs, Korzinka continues to show stable growth. The company’s revenue reached 9.4 trillion soums — nearly 2 trillion more than the previous year.

Supermarkets remain the core driver of business. As of the end of the reporting period, the chain operated 129 stores, with revenue from this segment totaling 8.6 trillion soums — a 22% increase. The company is actively expanding its in-house bakery and fresh food offering, with 121 bakeries now operating inside its stores.

The Mahalla format is also gaining traction: the 18 existing outlets each serve up to 900 customers per day. Comparable store sales in this segment rose by 40%, and over 10% of purchases exceeded 150,000 soums per transaction.

The Korzinka Go online platform has experienced explosive growth, with the number of orders surpassing one million and sales volumes increasing by 188%.

EBITDA declined from 5.5% to 3.1%, which the company attributes to significant investments in the First Price (Yanada arzon narx) program, increased wages and utility costs, a loyalty program relaunch, and the scaling of the Mahalla and Go formats. Nevertheless, in absolute terms, gross margin grew by 25%, and operating cash flow reached 615 billion soums — 5.7% higher than the previous year.

Comparable sales rose by 9.3%, with a total of 94 million transactions recorded. On average, about 250,000 people visited Korzinka stores daily.

Korzinka is actively developing its own private label portfolio. The assortment already includes 511 SKUs, accounting for 7.6% of sales. The goal is to raise this share to 25% by 2027.

Customer loyalty remains one of the company’s key assets. The loyalty program has 1.8 million registered users, including 600,000 active monthly participants. Over half of all purchases (55%) are made using loyalty cards.

Korzinka has set an ambitious target to expand its network to 1,000 stores by 2030. The immediate plans include the construction of 60 Mahalla-format locations. The development strategy is based on leasing retail spaces and scaling through technology, efficient logistics, and big data analytics.