Wildberries' losses following the fires were estimated at 180 billion rubles
The fires at Wildberries’ warehouses in the Moscow and Tambov regions could become some of the most costly in the company’s history. According to preliminary estimates, the total losses exceed 180 billion rubles, which is more than the annual budgets of 53 Russian regions.
The fires that destroyed Wildberries’ large logistics centers in the Moscow and Tambov regions could cost the company a record amount. According to analysts’ estimates, total losses already exceed 180 billion rubles, and the final figure may turn out to be even higher. Preliminary estimates indicate that two logistics complexes with a combined area of approximately 350,000 square meters were completely destroyed by fire.
The cost of the warehouse centers alone is estimated at approximately 30 billion rubles. According to experts, the company suffered its greatest losses due to the destruction of the goods stored inside. Data Insight analyst Sergey Semko believes that at least 150 billion rubles’ worth of products may have been destroyed in the fires.
At the same time, he emphasizes that this is a very conservative estimate. “This is a conservative estimate. The value of the destroyed inventory could range from 170 to 230 billion rubles,” Semko noted. If we add the value of the logistics centers themselves, the total losses, according to the most conservative estimates, will reach about 180 billion rubles.
This amount exceeds the annual budgets of 53 Russian regions combined. For comparison, the budget of the Omsk Region is 178.6 billion rubles, that of the Belgorod Region is 177.3 billion, that of Udmurtia is 172.6 billion, and that of the Tula Region is 169.6 billion rubles.
The losses from the fire are also more than double the annual budget of the Ivanovo Region, which stands at 88.5 billion rubles. This amount is nearly three times the budget of the Oryol Region, which is 61 billion rubles. The difference is even greater when compared to the budgets of Russia’s smallest regions. For example, Kalmykia’s budget is 35.3 billion rubles, the Nenets Autonomous Okrug’s is 30.5 billion, and the Jewish Autonomous Region’s is 28.1 billion rubles. Thus, Wildberries’ preliminary losses are nearly six times larger than their annual budgets.
After the fire, Wildberries founder Tatiana Kim stated that the company is working on a compensation mechanism for sellers who lost their goods. However, experts point out that this could cost the company a huge amount of money. Forbes notes that Wildberries’ net profit for last year totaled approximately 175 billion rubles. This means that compensation to sellers alone could theoretically cost the company an amount comparable to its annual profit.
The final amount of losses has not yet been determined. Experts note that it will depend on the results of the inventory count, the valuation of destroyed goods, and the amount of insurance payouts. If the highest estimates are confirmed, the losses could exceed 200 billion rubles and become among the largest in the Russian e-commerce market. This is reported by Russian media, citing estimates by Data Insight analyst Sergey Semko and Forbes magazine.
