OREANDA-NEWS. January 22, 2013. Surprising trends were revealed after analyzing customer preferences during pre-holiday and holiday weeks.

During the last two weeks of November, 2012 there has been a substantial increase in sales of goods traditionally bought for the New Year feast. Thus, sales of tangerines and canned goods used for various salads (i.e. corn, peas) have increased 5 times, mayonnaise sales doubled, and sparkling wine sales have increased dozens of times.

An interesting transformation has occurred in the sauces category. In December 2012 the demand for original mayonnaise (high in fat) compared to the low-fat sauce was 1.5 times higher than the year before. Feasts during 2012 New Year celebration were not dietary! The average buyer’s shopping basket also contained confectionary products, chocolates and gift baskets.

Still, the highest sale volumes during the last two weeks of December came from fruits and vegetables. This is one of DIXY’s key categories, and the demand for it is particularly noticeable.

OJSC DIXY Group [RTS: DIXY] is one of Russia’s leading retailers of foods and everyday products.

The first DIXY store opened in 1999 in Moscow and, after the period of intense organic development and purchase of Victoria Group in June, 2011, as of November 30, 2012, the Group operated 1,437 stores, including 1392 DIXY neighborhood stores, 45 stores under the “Kvartal”, "Deshevo", “Semeynaya Kopilka” brands, 31 Victoria supermarkets, 19 MEGAMART (compact hypermarket) stores, 11 MINIMART supermarket stores and 1 CASH (cash&carry) store.

The Company operates in three Federal Districts of Russia: Central, Northwest, Urals, and in Kaliningrad region.

As of November 30, 2012, the Company had a total of 514,934 square meters of selling space. The Company is the third largest among Russian national retail operators in the food retail market by revenue, selling area and number of stores. The Company employs over 37,000 people.

In May 2007 the Company raised USD 360 million in its IPO on the RTS and MICEX. A controlling stake in DIXY Group, OJSC (54.4%) is owned by the Mercury Group of Companies, a diversified holding company.

In 2011, DIXY Group's total revenue (including revenue of the Victoria Group, acquired on June 15, 2011, from the year beginning) amounted to RUR 122 billion (USD 4 bln).

The rating agency “Expert” rates DIXY Group as one of the Top-100 largest Russian companies.