Ukrainian business in Europe: a practical view

Exclusive. We rejoice to the success of Novaya Poshta in Europe, and it seems that Ukrainian business is about to seize everything and redistribute the world market. As a person who participated in European startups of several businesses (1, 2 and a few more, which I will mention today), I see the situation a little more soberly. There are prospects, but the challenges are also considerable. Let me tell you, give a couple of personal tips from my bell tower, and also show how Novaya pochta conquers the world.

Do they know Ukrainian brands in Europe?

In short, no, and they don't want to know. At least for now. Novaya pochta serves traffic bound for Ukraine (there is an exception, see below). Ukrainian bars and shops become meeting centers of the community. Ukrainian goods appear on the shelves of stores from time to time, but mostly Ukrainians also buy them.

The old world is old: people believe that they have seen and understood life and do not want to try something new. Europe is full of people who go to the same two or three bars all their lives, where they order the same type of wine. One favorite type of coffee, even if it tastes like goat balls. Europeans are very appreciative of what they have, and are mostly uncurious. Therefore, our business, entering the European market, inevitably falls into the Ukrainian bubble.

At the same time, do not think badly: the attitude towards Ukrainians has not changed, it is positive! It's just that we are expected to adapt to their culture, not the other way around. Therefore, Ukrainian brands and services do not need to try to conquer Spain or another European country from the jump, offering what is "objectively better". Europeans and I have different objectivity.

Therefore, here will be the number one tip: don't ask Europeans to like it, you won't succeed (immediately).

They are so comfortable

I will not say for the whole of Europe, but specifically in Spain backward banking, nightmare service, inconvenient store hours, collective beauty industry standards. It seems that people simply do not understand that it is possible to work in a different way, they want to be "saved", forced to make them happy with "normal" service, Nothing will change, because it is convenient for Spaniards to live the way they live.

For example, a siesta. Cities are almost completely dying out, and from our point of view this is inconvenient and pointless - a lot of time is wasted. There is a temptation to go against the system, launch a service that will work during the siesta and, logically, it is possible to collect a large segment of clients with an alternative offer (competitors are resting). However, no one will come to you during these hours. Because people are used to doing other things at these times.

To write not only about Spain, let's also talk about our neighbors. In the Netherlands, for example, there is no siesta, but cities die out after 18:00. This does not mean that someone in this country suffers uncontrollably from the impossibility of buying socks at 18:30 p.m., as it may seem. People have been living here for many years in such a way that by 18:00 p.m. pants-socks-books-products were bought, and it is useless to re-educate the locals. It is necessary to adapt to the local tempo, even if it seems wrong.

Or food! Spaniards try unfamiliar food very carefully. It is normal here for a pizzeria to work for forty years, making eight types of the same pizzas. The cafe has the same snacks on the menu. There are exotics, of course, especially in Madrid, but the mass market is very standardized. One or two types of beer on tap are the norm, and half of the customers come to the bar to drink bottled beer, the same as in supermarkets.

Do you think that if you open a bar with five taps and ten varieties of beer in bottles, there will be a queue? No. We've already tried it, I know a bar that tried to play this strategy and now it's on sale (it's a pity, there was an excellent stout, which, however, no one drank, except for two Ukrainians).

Accordingly, some exotic cuisine will also not be considered. We tried to teach Spaniards to like red borscht, correct, with garlic doughnuts. It doesn't fit them.

Tip number two is simple: accept the rules of the game.

Habit and training

Now I will talk about several successful cases and the secret of their success.

A small simple example: Ukrainians open a small cafe in Spain. At first, only other Ukrainians come to them, because the Spaniards know who opened the cafe, and they are not interested in going there. They go where they are used to, eat and drink as they are used to. Boredom, in short. "Groundhog Day" as it is.

How did they develop: through the contacts of the Ukrainian community with the locals, it was possible to lure several companies of Spaniards to the cafe, who went to this particular cafe because it was important to their Ukrainian friends. Then there was a pause, during which the cafe left at the expense of the Ukrainian community. The management carefully studied competitors, listened to customers, slightly changed the menu. At the same time, attempts to establish contacts with the maximum number of Spaniards living nearby continued, and raffles were held among visitors.

As a result, after a year and a half, the locals got used to the cafe, accepted it, and now mostly Spaniards go there. It was a long road, stressful for entrepreneurs, but they found their way to success.

There is a larger example. The digital marketplace, one of the leaders of the Ukrainian market in its niche, came to the Spanish market during the Great War. From a software point of view, it is an excellent product on which many Ukrainians have built their business. In Spain, however, people know how to do without it and do not want to change their habits.

An important feature: it is not possible to rely on the Ukrainian community, the target audience of the business is precisely Spanish entrepreneurs.

What does the company do? Organized constant presence at profile events, invests in PR, including local PR in her province. In time, she saddled the Ukrainian topic, in time she jumped off it. Now, in-depth interviews with market participants are being actively conducted, and the first clients are being served almost manually. At the request of users, features are added. That is: business gives an opportunity to get used to yourself and listens, reacts, talks, emphasizes the importance of Spaniards.

Simple advertising campaigns on squares are useless, and search engine optimization has, rather, an auxiliary role. In Spain, if there is no personal relationship, advertising messages are perceived as white noise.

The marketplace also has victories. And, most importantly, those Spaniards who started using it will stay here for a long time. This is exactly why it is worth breaking into the European market. People here are rich and bony. If you don't mow in a big way, then the inhabitants of the Old World, who are used to you, will carry money to the carrot dump.

Tip three: let them get used to it, invest in relations with the first customers.

View from the Tower of Babel

The language policy of the present Europe is totally is different from the Ukrainians presented on how to build statehood. When you are engaged in a real business in Europe, this creates some additional difficulty. I consulted a Ukrainian business that was launching a new cosmetic brand on the Swiss market, and we were puzzled over which languages ​​to communicate in: Swiss German, Swiss French, Swiss Italian, or Swiss Romanian? And where can I get authors in four languages, even cheaper? Use ChatGPT, which also carries serious risks, because the translation quality is unstable?

But tongues are only the tip of the iceberg. In the same Spain, tastes, preferences, routines and habits of users differ from province to province. Intelligence is very necessary.

In this sense, the extensive Ukrainian communities that formed in all European countries with the beginning of the Great War are not only the first clients of any of our businesses, but also a source of valuable information that can and should be attracted before starting a business. I strongly advise: even if you want to enter the European market and the European consumer, first find local Ukrainians, conduct in-depth interviews with them, listen to what they say about the locals. This can help to correctly formulate the conditions for testing the business model and save a lot of money and time.

Council four is already clear: for a Ukrainian, business in Europe is, first of all, business with compatriots and together with compatriots. Without Ukrainian communities, we are almost powerless.

Case of Nova Poshta

I received an official comment from the press office of Novaya Poshta about how they work on the European market, and this is exactly the way that is the only way to achieve success. The company has currently opened 59 branches in Europe, in six countries: Moldova, Poland, Lithuania, the Czech Republic, Romania and Germany. The plans for this year include Slovakia, Latvia, Estonia and Hungary.

In each country, we focus primarily on Ukrainians, and it is they who currently make up the lion's share of our clients abroad. This indicator is currently the average across countries — 90% of our customers. The only exception is Romania. This is a special market, and when starting work here, we consciously emphasized the great connection between Romania and Moldova. Thus, in the model of our development, we assume that 70% of cargo traffic will consist of the flow of parcels between Romania and Moldova and only 30% between Romania and Ukraine.

The company focuses on Ukrainians during the exit and development in the EU countries, at the same time Novaya pochta is ready to provide services to local residents as well, such as delivery within the country. This gives Nova pochte enough time for Europeans to get used to the brand, using a high-quality service, without excessive advertising and imposition.

From the bottom of my heart, I wish "New Post" good luck, and I hope that our banks will also accept the baton. There really isn't enough of them here.

Is it necessary to return Ukrainians?

These days, there was an unhealthy discussion about whether Ukrainians should be released abroad after the war, or whether serfs should be secured so that they do not run away. From the point of view of business, this whole discourse looks like the ravings of a madman. Because the great Ukrainian resettlement has already become an objective reality that cannot be tamed by a formula. At the same time, resettlement, in addition to understandable demographic problems, also carries opportunities for the expansion of Ukrainian business. Which, if he manages to really gain a foothold in the European market, will sooner pull post-war Ukraine out of the economic quagmire than cheap populist politicians.

Denis Skorbylin, trend analyst Newsky