Retail & Development Business Summit 2019: how it was (photo-report)

On December 5, the 7th annual Retail & Development Business Summit was held at the CEC Parkovy. What was discussed, what was talked about and what was decided at the event.

This year, 26 speakers spoke at the event, representing various trade, development and b2b segment directions. All of them are recognized experts, who know firsthand all Ukrainian retail nuances: COO DeFacto Serdar Ersoy, Founder of Ulichnaya Eda and Buhta Food Station projects Roman Tugashev, Author of Star Burger and Grill do Brasil restaurant projects Gennady Medvedev, CEO Intertop Ukraine Sergey Badritdinov, COO Budhouse Group Maxim Gavryushin, Co-founder and CEO Kasta Andrey Logvin, Commercial Director of A Development Daria Kukharenko and many others.

The event’s title partner was VOVK clothing studios chain – #1 among young Ukrainian clothing brands in growth and customer confidence terms. Moneyveo – service thanks to which Ukrainians solve their financial issues “here and now” and River Mall – the new SEC 2019 – became official partners.

The Retail & Development Business Summit brought together first persons of key players in retail and commercial real estate spheres, representatives of investors and financial organizations, consultants and manufacturers, as well as guests from near and far abroad – employees of such companies as Epicenter K, DeFacto, Silpo, Auchan, Megasport, ATB-market, LPP, McDonald’s, Multiplex, Zolotyi Vіk, SOVA, TSUM, SEC Dream Town, Vodafone, Sushi Master, RDA, Multi Ukraine and many others. In total, the event brought together more than 500 guests.

Everyone was photographed near the event’ brand-wall with logos of Retail & Development Business Summit-2019 partners and sponsors.

The brand-wall with logos of summit’ partners has become the popular place for photographing

The brand-wall with logos of summit’ partners has become the popular place for photographing

The brand-wall with logos of summit’ partners has become the popular place for photographing

Dmitry Snezhko, Exclusive Distributor of Tom Tailor and Pierre Cardin brands in Ukraine, Maxim Gavryushin, Operations Director of Budhouse Group, Oleg Kruchinin, Co-founder of the Ukrainian Retail Association

Property Management of Investment Company Dragon Capital subdivision team. In the center is the Head of division Natalya Kravets

In total, the program included seven thematic blocks. The first session was devoted to looking into the future – how retail and shopping centers are being transformed. First experts to speak were Gaston Gaitan, Founder of Theleisureway, Dmitry Andrievsky, Commercial Director of SystemGroup, and Serdar Ersoy, Chief Operations Officer DeFacto.

Gaston Gaitan – Founder, Theleisureway

Dmitry Andrievsky − Commercial Director, SystemGroup

Serdar Ersoy − Chief Operations Officer, DeFacto

Serdar Ersoy − Chief Operations Officer, DeFacto

RDBS-2019’ session #2 was entirely devoted to technologies in retail. Stanislav Grigorenko, Co-owner of SmartBot.studio told about that how chat-bots work and how it changes loyalty program’ terms and communication with the client. Alexey Shcherbatenko, Managing Partner of SmartTender.biz, took the floor after him. He shared the experience of Epicenter K, METRO and Comfy companies, and explained why it is needed and what provided the electronic document management. Mikhail Gorfunkel, Director for Special Projects of GLORY Global Solutions was another speaker of the second session. His presentation was entitled “Key trends and technologies for Retail in 2020”.

Stanislav Grigorenko – Co-owner, SmartBot.studio

Alexey Shcherbatenko − Managing Partner, SmartTender.biz

Guests of Retail & Development Business Summit – 2019

Michael Gorfunkel − Special Projects Director, GLORY Global Solutions

New speakers’ composition discussed how to achieve synergies online and offline after a short coffee break. The presentation “Are concerns for the SEC fate justified?” was made by Operations Director of Budhouse Group Maxim Gavryushin. He told how ordinary stores form a halo-effect, which is defined as the direct effect of ordinary stores on the digital interaction with the consumer and his awareness about brand, how the consumer behaves after buying online or offline and more.

The next word was taken by Business Development Manager of FONDY Maxim Skirda. He spoke about the consumer experience that customers receive in online stores’ different segments, the influence of the customer’s path length on the purchase process, about the conversion’ improvement  and much more. Managing Partner of Watcom Group, Co-founder of Shopster Alexei Knyazev spoke about the third technological revolution and its impact on retail, in particular, about the IKEA case. Panel discussion began after this speech, during which speakers talked about new services and technologies to increase customer loyalty and about drivers for e-commerce development in Ukraine. Experts of the discussion were Andrey Logvin, Co-founder and CEO Kasta, Sergey Badritdinov, CEO Intertop Ukraine, and Maxim Gavryushin, Operations Director of Budhouse Group. The session was moderated by Kateryna Venzhik – Ukrainian economic journalist, Head of special projects of Liga.net.

Maxim Gavryushin − Chief Operating Officer, Budhouse Group

Maxim Skirda − Business Development Manager, FONDY

Maxim Skirda − Business Development Manager, FONDY

Alexei Knyazev − Managing Partner, Watcom Group; Co-founder, Shopster

Andrey Logvin, Co-founder and CEO Kasta, Sergey Badritdinov, CEO Intertop Ukraine, and Maxim Gavryushin, Operations Director of Budhouse Group. The session was moderated by Kateryna Venzhik – Ukrainian economic journalist, Head of special projects of Liga.net.

Andrey Logvin – Co-founder and CEO, Kasta

Sergiy Badritdinov − CEO, Intertop Ukraine

The next session was devoted to the international experience of retailers. Alexei Panasenko, Deputy General Director for Operations of Novus Ukraine took the floor. His presentation was dedicated to the general theme “10 years of Novus chain in Ukraine. The path from start-up to sustainable business ”and covered such issues as difficulties that companies face in developing its business in Ukraine, as well as plans for the future of Novus. Legal aspects of doing business in our country were considered after him by Marina Tomash, Advisor, Head of Tax Consulting and Accounting of Ader Haber.

Gradually, session #4 flowed into a panel discussion. Previous speaker Alexei Panasenko, as well as Chief Operations Officer DeFacto Serdar Ersoy joined serving speaker Marina Tomash. The session was moderated by Yuri Petrenko, Managing Partner of Ader Haber.

Oleksiy Panasenko − Deputy CEO for Operations, Novus Ukraine

Oleksiy Panasenko − Deputy CEO for Operations, Novus Ukraine

Serdar Ersoy − Chief Operations Officer, DeFacto

Yuri Petrenko − Managing Partner, Attorney, ADER HABER

Marina Tomash, Advisor, Head of Tax Consulting and Accounting, Ader Haber

The fifth session returned to the issue of technologies in retail – how to sell quickly and efficiently. The first word was taken by Deputy General Director of Meest Andrei Suk, who spoke about the postal-logistics solutions in retail. Anatoly Avdeev, Head of Business Development of moneyveo, and CEO PICSELL Sergey Germashev also shared their expert opinion. The first of them talked about increasing of sales through lending, the second – about the transformation of merchandising in the AI/Computer Vision era.

Andrey Suk − Deputy CEO, Meest

Anatoly Avdeyev − Business Development Manager, Moneyveo

Sergey Germashev – CEO, PICSELL

Further, the summit continued with the food-halls and food-courts’ theme and other pressing issues of the restaurant business in Ukraine. Restaurateur, Author of Star Burger restaurant projects, Grill do Brasil restaurant, Co-owner of the Noodle bars’ Noodle Doodle chain, Shareholder of Sushiya and Buddha Bar restaurant chain Gennady Medvedev, Founder of Ulichnaya Eda and Buhta Food Station Roman Tugashev, and Co-founder of Pesto Cafe Dmitry Pogrebitsky  took part in the panel discussion. The session was moderated by the Director of Restaurant Consulting Company Olga Nasonova. They talked about new concepts, differences between food-courts and food-halls, entertainment, delivery and much more.

Restaurateur, Author of Star Burger restaurant projects, Grill do Brasil restaurant, Co-owner of the Noodle bars’ Noodle Doodle chain, Shareholder of Sushiya and Buddha Bar restaurant chain Gennady Medvedev, Founder of Ulichnaya Eda and Buhta Food Station Roman Tugashev, and Co-founder of Pesto Cafe Dmitry Pogrebitsky  took part in the panel discussion. The session was moderated by the Director of Restaurant Consulting Company Olga Nasonova.

Gennady Medvedev and Roman Tugashev

Co-founder of Pesto Cafe Dmitry Pogrebitsky

The final session was devoted to the SEC of Ukraine in era of changes. The partner of the Retail & Development Advisor, Co-founder of the Ukrainian Retail Association Oleksandr Fialka spoke about global trends in commercial real estate: redevelopment, reconception and revitalization. The session continued with the presentation of Director of the SEC Zlata Plaza Alexander Overchuk, who spoke about the SEC’ contribution to the city’ development and the reconstruction of the square near the SEC Zlata Plaza. Then the word was taken by Commercial Director of A Development Daria Kukharenko. She spoke about the history of the facility and new principles of urbanism as part of the A-Station project’ creation within the presentation “Arsenal – Opening of the Year from A-Development”.

Oleksandr Fialka − Partner, Retail & Development Advisor; Co-founder, Ukrainian Retail Association

Oleksandr Fialka − Partner, Retail & Development Advisor; Co-founder, Ukrainian Retail Association

Olexander Overchuk − Director, SEC Zlata Plaza

Darya Kukharenko − Commercial Director, A Development

The Retail & Development Business Summit ended after seven intense sessions with an informal party where event guests were able to rest from a busy day and relax in informal atmosphere of friendly fun. During the event, RDBS partners raffled off numerous prizes and gifts.

The event’ organizer, the Ukrainian Retail Association, thanks all speakers, guests and partners of the event, without whom the summit would not have been possible:

Title Partner – VOVK

New SEC of Ukraine – River Mall

Official partner – moneyveo

Official partner – Champion Catering

Partners – Linden, Budhouse Group, Retroville, Meest, Fondy, Smartbot.Studio, SystemGroup, Quehenberger, Sila Agency, Cherry Berry.

Party-partners: Jack Daniels, Finlandia, Coca-Cola, Smiyan confectionery chain.

Media-partners: LIGA.net, Delo.ua, 24 channel, Pershiy Dilovyi, Focus magazine, Biznes, Wi-Fi Bar, DYB, European Business Association, Mind.ua, Сommercial Property, All Retail, idnt, 100 realty, ACC , InVenture media group, Ukrainian Business Association in Poland, Delovaya Stolitsa, KSE, iPress.

The show-room of the summit’ title partner – VOVK stores’ chain

Event partner’ stand – moneyveo company

The Ukrainian Retail Association invites everyone to join as guests, participants or partners to the Fourth international exhibition of the retail and development industry Retail & Development Business Expo-2020 which will be held April 2-3, 2020 in Kiev at the NSC Olimpiysky.

More photos can be found in our photo-review below, as well as on the RAU Facebook page.

General view of the hall where performances of summit’ speakers and panel discussions occurred

Sergiy Badritdinov − CEO, Intertop Ukraine

Serdar Ersoy − Chief Operations Officer, DeFacto

Restaurateur, Author of Star Burger restaurant projects, Grill do Brasil restaurant, Co-owner of the Noodle bars’ Noodle Doodle chain, Shareholder of Sushiya and Buddha Bar restaurant chain Gennady Medvedev

Informal communication of summit’ guests

Informal communication of summit’ guests

Informal communication of summit’ guests

Informal communication of summit’ guests

Informal communication of summit’ guests

Informal communication of summit’ guests

The organizing team of Retail & Development Business Summit-2019 – the Ukrainian Retail Association

The organizing team of Retail & Development Business Summit-2019 – the Ukrainian Retail Association