How the Cybernetic network increased in size during a full-scale war, opened a flagship store, and how it plans to stay on the market alongside giants like Foxtrot and Comfy.
On the rapid growth of quantity
The Cybernetica chain was founded in 2005 in the city of Kherson and at the beginning of the full-scale Russian invasion, it had 55 stores in the south and central parts of Ukraine. But due to the great war, 20 stores on the Left Bank were lost, and the main office had to get out of the occupation and move to Kyiv. Before the war, the team relied on small cities in the south of Ukraine – Artsyz, Podolsk, Tatarbunary. And they entered with the concept of "service of big cities to small cities."
Nevertheless, the Kherson chain grew quantitatively by 40% during March 2024, opening 18 new stores, 16 of which were on the site of the closed ringoo chain, which were mostly located in the western and central parts of Ukraine. After ringoo made the decision to close the chain, Cybernetic negotiated with landlords and agreed on a quick and “seamless” transition of the facilities. Most ringoo sellers remained working in the new stores and did not lose their jobs and salaries.
In addition, in August 2024, the chain will open its first flagship store in the capital's Lavina Mall shopping center with an area of 1,200 sq. m. By the way, the location for the flagship was given to it by other competitors – Eldorado. It was not possible to gain a foothold in Odessa because there is a strong local player there – Citrus.
Therefore, as of the end of August, Cyberneticians have 56 stores in 37 cities in Ukraine. Most of them are in populated areas with a population of no more than 100,000.
In the next three years, the company plans to increase its share of the technology and electronics market from 2.5 to 10%, says co-owner of the chain Denis Savchenko.
How to stay on the market
They plan to stay on the market thanks to teamwork and constant self-improvement. In order to have funds for development, Cyberneticians receive commodity loans from suppliers. "We take the goods, sell them and buy new goods for this money," says Savchenko. Cyberneticians almost never invest their own money in goods, only in new locations. They try to attract buyers with additional offers – they offer board games, puzzles, Lego and even tactical equipment.
For the development of Cybernetics, they received a grant from the EBRD for 25,000 euros and began collaborating with the Banda agency. “They developed a new marketing strategy for us,” says Savchenko.
This affected the results. Last year, the company's revenue grew by 71.4% to UAH 589.4 million compared to the previous year, according to YouControl data. The company managed to get out of a loss of UAH 28.3 million to UAH 14.8 million in net profit. The company ended the first half of 2024 with a loss of UAH 7.9 million.
They are still far from the market leaders. Foxtrot's revenue in 2023 increased by 28.9%, to UAH 12.6 billion, and Comfy's by 66.6%, to UAH 27.6 billion.
“For now, we have already paused development because we want to understand what the situation will be at the front and in the country in general,” notes Savchenko.
Source: Forbes