UKRAINE/INTERNATIONAL. Alex Gusarov, CEO of Mydutyfree, the Ukrainian start-up which facilitates a click-and-collect service for customers at duty free shops worldwide, tells The Moodie Davitt Report how his team have refocused the company’s activities in the face of challenges thrown up by COVID-19.
Following our great success in 2019, Mydutyfree had ambitious plans for 2020, including connecting to new locations, further integration with the airport ecosystem and advancing promising marketing cooperations. As a company, we were expecting a significant increase in revenue both for ourselves and our partners. However, what happened with COVID-19 changed the landscape in quite a unique way.
Right after the start of the lockdown and the flight cancellations the company started getting the first messages from partners about their inability to pay for the provided services. It was of course a force majeure situation for everyone, but for an online business as Mydutyfree it could have meant the end of the company.
So, after the first shock, we started to look for ways to overcome the crisis. To survive the pandemic was not only our goal but also it enabled us to bring forward a new business strategy. We expected that the travel retail market would undergo fundamental changes after the lockdown. Retail would shift dramatically towards online, and this was exactly the field in which we are experts.
Instead of closing the company and reducing the staff, our team started to optimise expenses and look for new channels for generating income. First of all, being a software and an online product, Mydutyfree team gave up the office. Everyone worked from their homes.
The development plan was revised, and only the features that were vital for the product existence were supported. This way the team has optimised the IT costs.
Marketing costs were also reconsidered. Mydutyfree put the necessary budget to support the locations that were still operating (e.g. border shops in Belarus), and continued just the minimal online activities to continue a level of brand awareness.
We tested a new form of lead generation. Earlier, the company performed deep integrations (as with Domodedovo airport in Moscow and Kyiv airport in Ukraine). During the pandemic, our white label scheme was brought up to date. With it, every store, even the ones that already had their own online pre-order service, could be represented at the Mydutyfree platform (Mumbai Airport was the first one to connect to the new model). This would bring the shops additional sales with the Mydutyfree audience of over 150,000 active users and could support the renewal of travel retail after the lockdown.
Most importantly, the value of the Mydutyfree service has grown significantly. The pandemic has changed the travel retail forever: more and more people would prefer to spend less time at the airports, and in consequence in duty free shops. Choosing everything in advance and picking up the purchase in one place reduces the risk of disease and therefore becomes a new pattern of behaviour among the travellers.
Mydutyfree not only provides the click-and-collect service to their existing partners but has also simplified the connection process for new shops joining the platform.
The COVID-19 pandemic sets the new rules for the travel retail market. Mydutyfree has not only successfully adjusted to the new rules but has also developed solutions that will help everyone on the market.
