The Largest Kazakhstani Retailer Is Expanding into New Market

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Prominent Magnum stores to be opened in Uzbekistan; the company already hiring staff

According to Spot website, on September 9 the Kazakhstani department store chain Magnum Cash & Carry has opened a vacancy for an HR specialist in Tashkent.

The key requirements for hiring are knowledge of Uzbekistan’s labor legislation and fluency in the Uzbek language. Earlier, the company was looking for a market researcher in Uzbekistan.

The Magnum Cash & Carry (established in 2007) is the largest department store chain in Kazakhstan. Throughout its13 years of operation, the company has opened 75 different stores in nine cities. Among them are separately standing hypermarkets, supermarkets located in other shopping centers and compact supermarkets.

As of the end of 2019, the company took 10th place in the rating of the 50 largest private companies in Kazakhstan with a revenue of 187 billion tenge ($430 million) and a net profit of 2.2 billion tenge ($5.1 million). About three million customers make purchases at Magnum annually, the company said.

Magnum never hides its intention to merge all other market players. In 2019, the company acquired the Realist supermarket chain. Two years earlier, the Kazakhstani division of the French network Carrefour couldn’t withstand competition with local retailers and was forced to close its local business.

This August, Magnum also began to sell household chemicals, paper products, canned food, cereals and seasonings under its own product brand. 

According to Zafar Khashimov, founder of Korzinka.uz online service, with 30 million people, Uzbekistan has no developed market of chain retailers. There is no major competition and all new players are welcome.

As Majid Al Futtaim company (planning to open Carrefour stores in Uzbekistan) estimates, the volume of only Tashkent’s market might be about $5 billion by 2023.

Earlier, as Kursiv reported on September 9 the founder of Magnum Alexander Garber and other shareholders (Elina Pugach, Roman Tikhomirov, Andrey Yust) left Magnum Cash & Carry LLP.
 

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