Russia Launches a Chain of Flower Vending Machines as Flowwow Revenue Climbs to 5.7 Billion Rubles

Russia has launched its first chain of vending machines that sell flowers. TAdviser published the report, and it comes with fresh financial data from Flowwow, a large marketplace for flowers and gifts. In 2025, Flowwow's revenue came to 5.7 billion rubles, up 1.5 billion (35%) from a year earlier. Net profit reached 416 million rubles. In 2024, the company closed the year with a loss of 6.5 million.

A caveat up front. The available excerpt of the article does not give the number of machines, a list of cities, prices or any details of the technology platform. The text also does not clearly link the launch to Flowwow: the company is described as an IT marketplace of local shops with delivery from 30 minutes, but nothing states who owns the machine chain. What follows covers only what the figures support.

What we know about Flowwow

Flowwow describes itself as an IT company, not a flower retail chain. It is a marketplace where local shops list their goods, while the platform handles the storefront, payment and logistics. According to the article, as of October 2022 the service operated in more than 1000 cities worldwide. Its key promise is delivery from 30 minutes.

Financial results for 2025:

• revenue: 5.7 billion ₽ (about 4.2 billion ₽ a year earlier);
• revenue growth: +1.5 billion ₽, or 35%;
• net profit: 416 million ₽;
• 2024 result: a loss of 6.5 million ₽;
• net profit margin: about 7.3% of revenue (editorial calculation).

The move from a near-zero loss to a 416 million ruble profit, with revenue up by a third, suggests the business has left its "growth at any cost" mode. For a marketplace whose main costs are logistics, marketing and partner commissions, such a turnaround stands out.

Why vending is a logical move for flowers

Flowers are an impulse purchase with a tight time window: a birthday, a date, March 8. Delivery in 30 minutes solves part of the problem, but it runs into courier costs and the density of partner shops in a city. A vending machine serves a different scenario: a person walks past, remembers an occasion and buys a bouquet in a minute, with no waiting and no conversation with a salesperson.

Flower vending has some obvious technical challenges:

• the product is perishable, so it needs climate control and frequent rotation;
• it needs telemetry on stock levels and shelf life;
• it needs synchronization with suppliers so the machine does not sit empty;
• it needs online payment and, possibly, integration with an app.

This is where the IT side comes in. A machine without sales and stock data turns into an expensive refrigerator. If the chain is built on the marketplace platform, partner shops could restock the machines and earn revenue under the same scheme as with online orders. That is an assumption, not a fact from the source.

What to watch next

Little is known about the launch so far, so it is worth tracking specific indicators:

• Scale. How many machines, and in which cities: a dozen in Moscow or hundreds across the regions.
• Unit economics. Average ticket, turnover and the share of write-offs. For fresh flowers, write-offs decide whether the model survives.
• Network owner. A Flowwow launch and an outside player entering a market where the platform is already strong are different stories.
• Data and integrations. Whether the machines are connected to the app and the loyalty program, and whether sellers see stock in real time.

If you work in retail or e-commerce, this launch is a useful test of a hypothesis: how much offline automation adds to an online platform's sales, rather than simply moving them from one channel to another. The answer will come from the 2026 financial statements, which should show whether vending became a separate revenue line and how it affected the 35% growth rate.