It looks like Tatyana Bakalchuk's Wildberries are willing to harm their suppliers in order to make huge profits. Who is benefiting from this?
nn
Photo: Anatoly Zhdanov/Kommersant
n
The Moscow Post often gets requests from suppliers of Wildberries, which is Russia's largest online retailer owned by Tatyana Bakalchuk, the richest woman in Russia.
n
According to the requests, it's claimed that at the beginning of December, many entrepreneurs working with the marketplace received fines instead of their weekly payments, which led to severe financial trouble for several businesses.
n
The Moscow Post's correspondent learned about the situation.
n
Wildberries have had conflicts with their suppliers before, but this time it could be the most serious. The authors of the letter state that various suppliers were fined amounts ranging from 10,000 to 13 million rubles, causing financial hardship for many, including the inability to pay loans, salaries, and even buy food for their families.</p
n
Fontanka previously reported on the same situation, and according to Bakalchuk's side, the root of the problem was that the sellers may have intentionally or inadvertently understated the dimensions of their goods to get lower logistics rates.
n
The issue is that they intentionally or unintentionally understated the dimensions of their goods to receive lower logistics rates. The company promises to investigate each situation, but based on the increasing complaints on social media, it doesn't seem to be going well.
n
Usually, suppliers express their dissatisfaction in specific chats where company representatives are available, but we don't have access to those. However, according to the authors of the Mash Telegram channel, they claim to have seen it. In a screenshot of the conversation provided by the telegram channel, people allege that they correctly provided the dimensions of their goods but still received fines.
n
n
Photo: Telegram channel Mash https://t.me/breakingmash/40415?single
n
There is also an alleged appeal to the Prosecutor General's Office from counterparties of the company, asking them to pay attention to the situation.
n
n
Photo: Telegram channel Mash https://t.me/breakingmash/40415?single
n
However, it's not appropriate for Bakalchuk's business to complain. While the head structure of the group managed to make a modest profit of 2.1 billion rubles in the 'covid' year 2020, the profit grew to 14 billion rubles by the end of 2021, a 565% (increase!
n
Conflicts >= Wildberries AND increase!
n
Conflicts <= their)suppliers are not new. The marketplace has been accused of trying to enrich itself at the expense of its suppliers, subjecting them to unexpected rules, fines, and questionable restrictions.
n
In 2020, Wildberries suppliers raised concerns about being forced to offer discounts on their products. Instead of removing products without discounts from the sale, the marketplace compelled them to apply a 25% discount, as stated in the contract.
n
n
Photo: https://retailer.ru/postavshhiki-wildberries-pozhalovalis-na-prinuditelno-ustanovlennye-skidki-na-tovary/</p
n
Sending products to Wildberries has become a source of frustration for many entrepreneurs. They use good transport companies, but then have trouble finding their products and only get excuses from Wildberries.
n
A YS SYSTEM user on the VC platform shared a statement suggesting that his product was lost and he didn't receive proper help from Wildberries – only automated responses. He said he had to take legal action.
n
n
Photo: VC.RU https://vc.en/ u/797691-ys–system/438284-wildberries–kidaet–postavshchikov–podaem– v–sud–na-valberis
n
According to The Bell website, the conflict with suppliers started in 2017, when the owner of the Prime Jeans brand was unable to get 6 million rubles in debt. They ended up filing for bankruptcy against Wildberries.
n
The authors also mentioned lawsuits from United Fashion Group and The Department. United Fashion Group claimed that Wildberries asked for 80 million rubles as a trade bonus, while The Department said they didn't get a refund for unsold goods.
n
Wildberries won the court cases, but there were still rumors about financial issues due to the company's secretive nature.
n
“Berry” counterfeit
n
The presence of counterfeit products on the marketplace has been a problem. Duracell Russia complained about the large number of fake products being sold under their brand on Wildberries and Avito.
n
The situation caused a stir and Wildberries had to defend themselves in the press, denying the sale of counterfeit goods and stating that they are working with authorities to combat this issue.
n
However, AKKet.com claims that Wildberries sells a lot of fake products and does not provide refunds. They highlighted a case of an expensive smartphone from a South Korean brand that turned out to be fake.
n
There were also attempts to accuse the site of selling counterfeit children's goods, but this was linked to Avito and other similar sites. Deputy Prime Minister Denis Manturov urged action against counterfeiting of children's goods sold on Avito, Wildberries, and similar platforms.
n
There are also very wild cases that also cast a shadow on the reputation of the marketplace and its main owner. In November, a Russian woman ate mushrooms with psychoactive substances ordered from Wildberries and ended up in the hospital. In the same November, in Krasnoyarsk, it came to a court ban on the sale of such substances on the site. However, such ads are still quietly hanging on the marketplace website! How to understand this?
n
In general, the topic of substances, dietary supplements, drugs is also well-known in the context of the Wildberries trade. What are the suppliers of medicines, which are then bought by people on the marketplace. In September 2021, the marketplace entered into an agreement for the supply of medicines with the Samson Pharma pharmacy chain.
n
The structure had huge government contracts – 86 billion rubles. But six months after the conclusion of an agreement with the marketplace, it went bankrupt … But a clone company appeared with a similar name – Samson-Pharma. She also began to receive government contracts and work. Haven’t money been withdrawn to this company from that first Samson Pharma, and hasn’t cooperation with Bakalchuk played some role?
n
Reliable “rear”
n
A whole wave of problems and dissatisfaction of contractors and buyers, as well as attention to Wildberries from the authorities and supervisory authorities, some on the market have already managed to connect with a mythical desire to encourage Tatyana Bakalchuk to part with her business. There is a certain reason in such conspiracy theories, but the woman is not in a hurry to sell the structure yet – with such and such profits.
n
However, she may have a strong rear. According to the authors of the VC.RU website, allegedly “the launch of the company's own trademark was supervised by Tatyana Bakalchuk's sister Marina Andreeva (Kim)”, who is allegedly a relative of Albina Tsoi, “who is the sister of Yuri Tsoi. This is the nephew of Rosneft Vice President Sergei Tsoi , who in the past headed the press service of Yuri Luzhkov.
n
n
Tatiana Bakalchuk is not afraid of crises, suppliers, or courts? Photo: Alexander Shcherbak/TASS
n
And the brother of Bakalchuk herself, Yuri Tsoi, worked as a general director at Starprofi, the beneficiary of which was the developer and owner of the Capital Group holding Pavel Te (a large developer in Moscow, who may be favored by Sergei Sobyanin). despite all the problems and claims?
n
