“We are one family.” How EVA develops and helps society even despite the war – an interview with the CEO of the Store Line, Olga Shevchenko

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The last year has become one of the most difficult for top managers of Ukrainian business – the war caused many new problems that are not described in business literature. How to quickly evacuate the store, under what conditions to start work, how to support employees and not lose customers – these questions each manager has to answer on his own. What strategy did EVA choose? Olga Shevchenko, CEO of the network, tells.

Ukraine and business experienced the most difficult year in the history of Independent Ukraine. How have your values ​​and approach to work changed?

This is probably the most difficult question. Why? We have always tried to build a flexible company that quickly responds to changes. The heads of our functional divisions are responsible, professional, independent, and this speeds up all our processes. I cannot say that we have become more responsible, because we were. However, our emotional state has changed. We, like all Ukrainians, work a lot and live under stress. In other respects, the company works harmoniously and effectively solves problems.

Our values ​​are unchanging: our team, responsibility to it, speed and efficiency. Our team feels and appreciates it. From the first hour of the war until today, there was not a single person who would let us down. I understand how difficult it was to evacuate stores, take out goods and proceeds. Everything that depended on our people, they did quickly and with full commitment. The main feeling from the first days of the war, apart from fear and panic, is admiration for one’s team. Of course, EVA, like other Ukrainian companies, has huge losses. Goods and equipment were lost for 360 million hryvnias, and this is without taking into account the unearned profit.

The workload on the middle level, the managers of our regional offices, has increased significantly. Almost none of them left their workplace. Our director left Mariupol with his entire office only at the end of April. Our boys and girls work in Kharkiv, Zaporizhzhia – all in their places.

Did the war bring your company together?

We have always been one family, which we call Eva Family. Even before the great war and lockdowns, a lot of work was done to unite us all. We created a corporate portal, chat bots for communication, we discuss a lot of issues that are not related to work. We play sports together – we have football and basketball teams, marathon runners, yoga – whatever you want. Our employees travel together, we call them Eva-drivers. Perhaps this is exactly what helped us survive the difficult times.

As in a real family, we take care of the well-being and safety of our colleagues. For example, in our distribution centers in the first weeks after the start of the great war, hostels were created for people moving from the east. They were given food. Our employees who have moved to the west of the country can work in the stores of our chain. In total, we have 300 such people who do not work in their regions.

We worry about those colleagues who went to defend Ukraine, and we have about 400 of them. We bought them body armor, thermal clothing, we buy thermal imagers, scopes and other things. We respond to all their requests.

EVA today

The EVA store line is the largest national chain of beauty and health stores, which occupies 79% of the market in its segment, offers more than 30,000 assortment items of cosmetics, perfumes, accessories, baby care products and household goods. The chain manages more than 990 retail outlets and the EVA.UA online store. The company employs 13,400 employees.

EVA is developing its own brands, there are already more than 50 of them in the company’s portfolio, and the share of sales in natural terms in 2022 was 30.6%. The products of EVA’s own brands have repeatedly received awards in the world. For example, the magnetic gold mask with Lift Genesis GEN 63 peptides became a finalist of the international competition European Private Label Awards 2021. TM Rambootan and LuckyPin won two gold awards at the international Vertex Award packaging design competition for own brands.

In 2022, the network’s turnover amounted to UAH 15.7 billion, which is 7% less than in 2021.

“We have to help”

The entire Ukrainian business has united and is working for victory. EVA implements many projects to support society and the Armed Forces. Which of them will be a priority this year?

Our clients send aid to the Armed Forces of Ukraine through our cash registers. We have already collected and transferred 17 million hryvnias. In the shops, you can buy and put in the basket the goods that we send to the military.

We provide targeted assistance. For example, more than 2.5 million UAH were collected to help families who suffered as a result of shelling by Russian occupiers of a residential building in Dnipro. These funds were transferred to the “TAPS” charity fund, which decides how to distribute them. In Dnipro, its representatives selected sixty-eight affected families and provided for their household needs. Funds were allocated to three families to solve housing issues.

Later, a new tragedy occurred – a Russian rocket hit a residential building in Zaporizhzhia. And we have already collected UAH 700,000 for the victims. Because a socially responsible business should always stand by and support.

Analysts talk a lot about a possible new Russian offensive. The heart of EVA is in Dnipro. Do you have a plan “B” in case the situation worsens in the east of Ukraine?

We are not morally ready for this, and we want to believe that this will not happen. But technically – yes, we will manage. We have four large distribution centers located in Dnipro, Brovary, Lviv and Odesa. Another small one is located in Kharkiv. We know how to redistribute supplies between them. At the beginning of the great war, our center in Brovary did not work for several months, but we managed – others blocked its work. Our data warehouse is located in Europe, so we do not risk anything.

Most of the employees of the central office are located in Dnipro, but we have been working remotely since the 2020 lockdown. The processes are adjusted, the company’s management system works like clockwork.

The most difficult question for every Ukrainian is when will the war end? No one has a definitive answer, what do you envision in your plans?

We assume that the war will last until the end of the year.

How did such a forecast change the company’s priorities for this year? Did you have to abandon certain plans, revise processes?

We did it in the first week of the great war. And now we have adjusted to the situation that has developed. If we have the opportunity to restore the store – we do it. Starting this year, for example, five stores in Pokrovsk, Dobropil, Mirnograd, Sloviansk and Kramatorsk of the Donetsk region are working again. We are opening another one – in the city of Rodynske.

How to operate a business profitably despite the war

The EVA store line is one of the few businesses in Ukraine that made a profit based on the results of work in 2022. What steps did you have to take, given that every seventh store is closed?

There were periods when every sixth store was closed. We are guided by a strict principle – the company must be profitable. Because this is the social responsibility of business. We always balance earnings with our expenses.

In general, our turnover decreased by 7 last year% relative to 2021 and amounted to UAH 15.7 billion, while the average check increased by 24% during this same time.

Is the EVA store significantly different from what it was before the war?

No. I would say that it is almost no different. We have fully resumed imports, suppliers are fulfilling their obligations, everything is back to normal.

Did you feel like you were losing control of the company?

No. There was never a moment of doubt. To be honest, we had worked out a plan of action even before the war. For example, we purchased generators in advance.

About plans for this year

EVA considered the possibility of opening stores outside of Ukraine. Were these plans revised after the start of the war?

I cannot say that we had such plans. We had such thoughts, but there was no concrete project. Now we do not plan to work abroad.

What projects do you plan to focus on this year?

At the first opportunity, we plan to restore stores where we can do it. Almost every two weeks we add a new EVA in Kherson, now we have a network of five stores in this city. We plan to restore a few more. 11 new stores have already been opened this year.

We intend to open up to 50 stores mainly in the center and west of the country. We invest from 2 to 4 million UAH in each new facility, depending on the format. It can also cost as much to rebuild an existing EVA if there is significant damage.

We also plan to complete and automate warehouses. We are planning to open a new warehouse in Odessa – this is a big project that will not be completed this year.

Our main projects relate to the development of digital – the site, the share of which in total sales is already 7%, a new mobile application, which should appear in April. The warehouses of our online store are currently located at our two distribution centers in Lviv and Brovary, and we are expanding them. This year, we hope, he will appear in the Dnipro.

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