PickPoint Network of Checkpoints
Competitors: Hermes Network of delivery points
PickPoint is a logistics service that is designed for convenient and affordable receipt and payment of online orders. PickPoint is developing the widest network of checkpoints (automatic sending terminals) and delivery points in Russia. The PickPoint network includes about 1,500 checkpoints (automatic parcel terminals) and purchase points in more than 370 cities of Russia. About 5.5 thousand online retailers are connected to the PickPoint network. PickPoint's user base has 2.2 million people.
2024
DNS buys PickPoint checkpoints
DNS Retail has begun the process of buying out the checkpoints of the bankrupt PickPoint network. In August 2024, DNS acquired two lots at auction, including almost 140 checkpoints. The total amount of the transaction amounted to ₽7,1 million.
According to RB.RU, during the auction, DNS bought about 100 posts that previously belonged to Qiwi for ₽6 million, as well as an additional 40 posts designed in 2020-2021 according to the Qiwi model, for ₽1,1 million. The posts were pledged to large banks such as Sberbank and Sovcombank. The initial cost of the purchased devices was estimated at ₽10,1 million and ₽1,1 million, respectively.
PickPoint, being the operator of the network of checkpoints and points of issue, bought about 2,500 checkpoints from Qiwi in 2019. At that time, each such post was estimated at ₽200 -300 thousand. During its operation, the company has reached a significant scale, having at its disposal more than 6,000 checkpoints and 4,500 points of issue in various cities of Russia. However, in April 2023, the network was forced to declare bankruptcy, and from May 2024, the company's property began to be put up for auction.
In September 2024, about 1,500 more PickPoint posts with an initial value of ₽190 million will be put up for the next auction. It is not yet known whether these devices are related to the previously used Qiwi network or are PickPoint's own equipment.
DNS is actively expanding its operations in the field of automated issuance points. Earlier, the company has already begun installing its checkpoints in the chain's stores. However, as of early September 2024, official comments from DNS on the recent purchase could not be obtained.
The PickPoint network, despite its bankruptcy, was one of the largest in Russia until its closure. As of 2024, PickPoint operated about 5,000 checkpoints, making it comparable in scale to Russian Post, which has about 7,000 such devices on its balance sheet.[1]
Declared bankrupt by the court
The PickPoint network of checkpoints has been officially declared bankrupt. The corresponding decision in January 2024 was made by the Moscow Arbitration Court. The lawsuit against the company is 138.4 million rubles. Sberbank is also announced among the creditors of the online delivery service.[2]
2023: Shutdown due to financial difficulties
Russian delivery service PickPoint faced financial difficulties and stopped work. This became known on February 17, 2023.
On this day, Kommersant the newspaper "" published a material in which it reported that the PickPoint application is now unavailable to accept applications for sending parcels from most settlements of Russia, with the exception of,,, and Moscow Moscow area St. Petersburg Leningrad Region several other large cities of the country. The same problem is reported by customers of the PickPoint social networks service: they complain about extended delivery times, broken and disconnected checkpoints in a number of cities.
According to one of the newspaper's interlocutors, PickPoint, citing financial difficulties, notified some marketplaces of the suspension of cooperation. Avito reported that delivery to PickPoint checkpoints is temporarily unavailable. Ozon said that orders through PickPoint can be obtained at marketplace points where such an option is connected.
Experts interviewed by the publication say that the PickPoint situation arose not only because of internal problems. By February 2023, points of issue of orders (PVZ), where there are fitting rooms, are gaining popularity, which is important when ordering clothes and shoes.
Data Insight partner Boris Ovchinnikov notes that the online trading market today is growing exclusively due to large marketplaces with their own delivery, while logistics companies in 2022 faced a number of difficulties. Among the main ones, the expert calls the departure of a number of international brands that were ready to pay extra for the stability of delivery.
By mid-February 2023, the PickPoint network consisted of 6 thousand checkpoints and 4.5 thousand points of issue of orders in 657 settlements of Russia. Since the beginning of 2023, lawsuits have been filed against the network for more than 400 million rubles. The total amount of claims for all claims considered against the company reaches 711 million rubles.[3]
In April 2023, the company completely ceased operations.
2022: Debt to online stores 320 million rubles
On November 6, 2022, it became known that online stores filed lawsuits against PickPoint in the amount of more than 320 million rubles. Among the plaintiffs are Lamoda (demanded 262 million rubles), eSolutions, Ile de Bote and Tehport.
As Vedomosti writes with reference to a representative of Leonardo (sells goods for hobbies and needlework), the network was also in debt to PickPoint, but then it was repaid by 3/4, and by November 2022 the retailer continues to cooperate with the network of checkpoints.
According to a PickPoint spokesman, the main shareholder of the company by November 6, 2022 is a foreign legal entity that has problems financing business in Russia due to the sanctions regime. The service representative added that PickPoint is in an active dialogue with its partners and continues to provide services to retailers that have resumed their activities in Russia.
 | Now we are restructuring the business and we hope to solve the problem by the end of the year, "he told Vedomosti. |  |
Executive Director of VSK Group Maxim Tishchenko believes that the trial is likely to end in an amicable agreement. Vadim Tkachenko, a lawyer and founder of the CEO of the vvCube consulting group, considers PickPoint to have problems due to a foreign shareholder as an unconvincing argument.
| | The inability to transfer money from abroad from investors or from the founders of the company is not quite a serious excuse, because everyone who wants and can continue to work in Russia finds opportunities to attract funds. It seems to me that it was the trust on the part of such large players as Lamoda and the rest that it was a little shaken, and in this regard the dispute went to such a situation, "the lawyer said. | |
By November 2022, PickPoint operates a federal network of 10,500 checkpoints. 100% of the share of the Russian legal entity belongs to the Cypriot offshore.[4]
2021
Combining with 5Post to create one of the largest logistics operators in the Russian Federation
In early July 2021, X5 Group and PickPoint announced the merger of a network of checkpoints and order points. Thus, the companies agreed to create one of the largest logistics operators in the Russian Federation. Read more here.
Vulnerability on Pickpoint.ru put up for sale on the darknet SQLi
Vulnerability on Pickpoint.ru. put up for sale on the darknet SQLi This became known on January 18, 2021.
The vulnerability allows you to get a dump that databases servers contains 4 personal data million customers of the company.
The vulnerability is put up for sale by several sellers on a shadow forum and is sold for $1000. The database is said to data be running MS SQL Server 2012 with ASP.Net 4.0 technology and contains the following information
According to Telegram, the information leak channel also put up for sale a database with 4mn personal data records, presumably company customers, containing full names, dates of birth, phones, addresses, emails, hashed (MD5) passwords, etc.
The source recalled that in early December 2020, an unknown hackers attacked network of PickPoint checkpoints, as a result of which they failed. In total, 2732 boxes were opened, that is, 25% of those available on the network. The attack put 49,000 orders totaling 150 million at risk, and resulted in the rubles theft of more than 1,000 orders.
| | in the wake of the cyber attack, the activity of scammers who are trying to sell non-existent data began. PickPoint does not have any user passwords in its database about full names, birthdays, and even more so any user passwords. This information is not transmitted to us by online stores, for issuing orders we do not request it from recipients, PickPoint users do not have a personal account. This is a provocation from scammers who use every possible method to cash in. All the consequences of the cyber attack were worked out in December 2020. As a result, 198 orders were affected, which were fully compensated to buyers[5] | |
2019: PickPoint buys out all Qiwi checkpoints
On December 26, 2019, it became known about the purchase by PickPoint of the Qiwi Box network of checkpoints, which includes about 2.3 thousand objects. The value of the deal has not been named. Read more here.
Project idea
The idea of the project began when we discussed the nuances of online commerce in Russia, its prospects and obstacles to a bright future. According to various studies and observations, the buyer, for the most part, has ripened to remote purchases, but cannot step over some stopping factors:
- The most preferred payment method in our country is still cash.
- There is no cheap and reliable delivery. Courier services can deliver everything quickly, but the cost of their services is often comparable to the price of the goods. And people are not ready to trust expensive parcels with cheaper and more familiar mail - there is a risk of loss for a long time.
If you discard the moment of payment, then the moment of delivery remains problematic: customers are forced to choose between "expensive" and "unreliable." We wanted to offer a reasonable alternative that would combine the advantages of both approaches. So the idea of postamates was born.
The station is a special payment terminal with automated storage cells, from which the client picks up the purchased goods - in a convenient place and at a convenient time. "
The first German experience in implementing a network of postamates
So that we did not have to specially drive to the post, losing time on this, we decided to place the devices on the user's way from home and to the house. And what places do we visit with enviable regularity? That's right, shops. Or shopping centers if we are talking about large cities. Therefore, the main bridgehead was chosen by shopping complexes of the middle price category - they always have a couple of places that are not interesting for businessmen, where it is quite possible to put a checkpoint for a modest rent.
Foreign experience and Russian realities
By ordering the delivery of the parcel to the nearest checkpoint, the buyer can go for it at any convenient time on the way home. The process is fully automated, which eliminates queuing due to a missing operator, a non-punctual courier, or a "broken computer." We believe that complete automation for our country is one of the really working ways to avoid queues formed due to the carelessness of the staff of the mail, bank and other mass service institutions.
Strictly speaking, the very idea of automated points of issue is not new - in Europe, such systems have been used for quite some time. Naturally, we decided to turn to foreign experience and equipment. During the research of the global market, we settled on Estonia and their network of automatic delivery of parcels. The postamates were quite simple and reliable, and no complex infrastructure was required. So they bought a couple of pieces and began work on localization.
DHL Postamates
As it turned out, localization in our case will not be limited to the Russian language and currencies. Do you remember the two obstacles to distance trading from the beginning of the article? Yes, that's right, cash payment. The fact is that for Europe this is already an anachronism and all machines work almost exclusively with cards. I had to add a banknote receiving unit, catch all this to the software and constrain the irregularities.
Technical side and infrastructure placement in the cloud
The basis of the entire system (and ideas too) is postamates. That is, a block of cells with a small PC, a router and a special controller inside. A PC running Windows Embedded is responsible for the logic, and a separate controller opens the cells. A bill receiver has also been added to make our conservative compatriots feel comfortable.
Each station connects to the processing center (application servers) through a VPN connection. The entire processing is completely online, so the stability of the WAN connection is important. The application server processes requests, checks orders and payments, gives "go-ahead" for issuance.
As you have already understood, the server backend has a lot of responsibility. Both the constant availability of IIS servers and databases and high performance are important here. By the way, the most "voracious" element in our country is the base. For example, now its download via a disk system often reaches 3000 IOPS.
Our office "cloud communication hub"
When it all started, the server hardware was borrowed in order to save money. But we quickly rested on the ceiling of its capabilities, and the increase in load was difficult to predict due to the novelty of the idea in the domestic market. Having smeared with a constant upgrade of iron, they decided not to pour from empty to empty and turned to cloud technologies. Acquaintances advised several sane cloud providers, and the choice fell on IT-GRAD. There is not even much to write about the transfer process itself - IaaS is good for the fact that you can move "as it is."
Postamates multiply, sliders move
We installed the first machine in 2010, and after a couple of years there were already 115! For us, this is a serious leap that has stirred up not only business processes, but also the IT infrastructure. At the time of rapid growth, the advantages of the cloud were fully appreciated - for us, this is primarily flexible scaling. Even when you cannot predict the increase in load and buy in reserve, you can always "build up the muscles" of virtual systems in a couple of clicks as needed.
Issue package after payment
Now 500 checkpoints across the country are pleasing Russians with fast and cheap delivery. So that their joy is not overshadowed by all sorts of freezes and "sorry, come tomorrow," in recent years we have seriously worked on the availability of systems. There are two application servers with IIS, and they work in a cluster with an external balancer. The database server is backed up by backups and vSphere HA, and WAN connections are now duplicated.
Almost the entire server infrastructure runs on Windows with IIS web services. We try to maintain the current versions, and now almost all services work on. Windows 2012 Some auxiliary services like a monitoring system were not included in the scheme - this is an exception to Microsoft's idyll. Historically, many of these systems work on Linux and, FreeBSD but when upgrading, we translate them to Windows due to the company's transition to. ON Microsoft
Technical Trends: VDI, DDoS and Security
Work is underway to optimize the database and translate it into SQL-2014. This will not only allow us to keep up with the times, but also increase the performance of the DBMS and allow us to reserve this element as well. Against this background, management has increased interest in DRS solutions. As you remember, now the question is closed with banal backups, but I want to find a full and as automated method as possible. So far, we are leaning towards the classic model of a backup platform based on the vSphere cloud, but options are possible here.
We are also going to experiment with thin clients and VDI in operator seats. Now we have several sorting centers with 24\7 work, and a simple single workplace can easily result in 2,000 unprocessed parcels per night. To minimize such emergencies, night engineers work at the sites, but such a decision is controversial in terms of costs. Therefore, there is an idea to move all workplaces to the cloud, and "in the fields" leave only thin clients in which there is nothing to break (and if it breaks, then repair is no more difficult than replacing a cartridge in a printer). We consider CITRIX XenDesktop as a specific product, experiment and try to work with it. Of course, an interesting option.
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