RUSH LLC (Dnipro), which manages of about 1,000 Eva perfume and cosmetics stores chain in Ukraine, increased online sales 7.8 times during quarantine in March 2020 compared to the same period in 2019, the company’s press service said on Tuesday, April 7. “We were prepared for the demands of the times, as before the crisis, we actively developed online sales through the Eva.ua online store. The numbers indicated that we are moving in the right direction. This is also confirmed by our current statistics. In March 2020, compared to March 2019, traffic grew by 305%, and sales grew by 680%,” the company said in the statement, citing Director of the electronic commerce department Olena Annenko.
Sales in March compared to February increased by 40%, traffic grew by 25%.
Thus, at the end of March, compared to February, sales of household goods increased 4.4 times, goods for child care almost four times, goods for personal care three times, household chemicals increased by 30.8%.
In addition to the current targeted delivery, the company intends to resume the delivery to pick-up and drop-off points in offline stores of the chain, which has been suspended since the beginning of quarantine.
RUSH LLC was founded in 2002. It has 40 own brands, which are represented by household goods, perfumes, cosmetics, jewelry, personal hygiene products, accessories, underwear and children’s goods.
The charter capital of LLC RUSH is UAH 10 million.
Italy’s ORI Industria SpA (Mantova), which invested in acquisition of equipment for hosiery production (the Viv’en petty trademark) of Ukraine’s RUSH retailer (the Eva chain), plans to increase its sales share to 30% (from 20% in 2019) in 2020.
“The Ukrainian market is actively growing and becoming more attractive for us. At the same time, Eva is our only major partner in Ukraine: the network accounts for 95% of all exports to this country. We hope to increase the share of Eva of our production volumes up to 30%,” the owner of the Italian factory, Marco Gerevini, told reporters at a briefing at the company’s factory.
According to Eva, sales of Viv’en petty products in 2019 amounted to more than 3.5 million units, or 6% of its total turnover of private label. The plans for the development of the Viv’en petty trademark for 2020 include sales growth of 45% (in units), an increase in its share of total sales of private labels to 7.5%, the launch of a line of fashion socks and new tights, and other.
The company does not name the share of the Viv’en products on the Ukrainian market, but claim: it is the largest among the tights of private brands.
According to Hanna Horokhovik, brand manager of the Eva network, in 2010-2011, such brands as Golden Lady, Levante, Omsa, and others began to leave the Ukrainian market, which also significantly affected the redistribution of this market.
RUSH LLC (Dnipro), the owner of the Eva perfume and cosmetics stores chain in Ukraine, plans to open the fourth distribution center in Odesa in 2021, Executive Director Olha Shevchenko has said in an interview with the Investory News publication.
“In 2020, we plan to increase the number of distribution centers to four. Currently, we are looking for a site in Odesa to launch a retail center in 2021,” Shevchenko said.
According to her, by the end of the year, the company also intends to expand the Eva network in Ukraine to 970 stores, as well as open 180 new outlets in 2020. The cost of opening one store is UAH 1-1.5 million, and the payback period is 2-4 years.
“Our plans are to expand the network to 970 stores by the end of the year. These are 210-212 new stores per year. [For 2020,] the plan is the same as it was for the current year – 180 stores. Mostly these will be western regions, where we are not yet represented as widely as in central and southern regions,” the director said, answering a question about plans for next year.
In addition, the retailer intends to launch a pilot store of a new format in the shopping and entertainment center in Dnipro in December 2019, and in 2020 – five more such stores in Kyiv and other cities.
“We have launched a fundamentally new format in test mode, whose working name is Eva Beauty so far. We will pay more attention to beauty categories. But home goods and household chemicals will not be presented there at all. This concept is designed for shopping centers, although it has the right to live in street retail,” Shevchenko added.
The company plans next year to launch its own courier delivery service in Kyiv, as well as increase the number of points of delivery of goods with online shopping.
According to Shevchenko, investments in the development of the Eva network in 2019 amounted to about UAH 400 million, half of which was invested in logistics and the development of e-commerce. At the same time, in 2016-2018, investments in the network amounted to UAH 800 million.
“The main area of investment [next year] will be the development of information technology, e-commerce and logistics,” the director said.
