The sphere of providing household services in Belarus remains one of the most difficult in terms of organizing business processes and achieving financial results that allow for further business development.
In any case, in order to be successful in this market segment and to be closer to the client, it is necessary to open orders receiving and issuing points, install parcel terminals, and also develop online services and order delivery. There are already such companies in Belarus.
Alexey Kalinchuk , owner and director of the network of restoration workshops SkyCross , engaged in cleaning, repairing, painting shoes, bags, jackets and other accessories, and dry cleaning, told his story of the development of the service business in our country. The company also provides atelier and custom tailoring services for leather goods.
The head of the Belretail.by project, Sergei Skorokhod, met with Alexey and asked several important questions, the answers to which will be received by many retailers in Belarus.
The most important question is how did you get to this point in life to become a businessman?
Let's start with how I got into business in the first place. Until the opening of the network of SkyCross restoration workshops, a rather interesting, but thorny path has been passed. I tried to work for hire several times, in completely different industries, and spent a long time searching for myself. I repeatedly came across the dishonesty of employers when it came to paying for the results of my work, which didn’t really suit me. Therefore, at a certain point, it was decided to work for oneself and fairly pay the work of hired employees. In addition, my horoscope is Leo, and Leos, as you know, are quite temperamental and ambitious people, and owning your own business is a great opportunity for self-realization and satisfying your ambitions.
How did this ambitious idea come about to implement and build a large household services service in Belarus?
I have always been interested in the service sector, I wanted to be useful, to serve for the benefit of people. Taking this into account, at one point, it was decided to create a cleaning company. My main approach is quality and professionalism above all else. Therefore, I insisted on using high-quality chemicals, professional cleaning equipment and appropriate materials. The result was a strong and reliable cleaning company that has been successfully existing for 8 years and has occupied a niche in the market corresponding to the quality of service provided. The SkyClean company gradually came to the point that its main clients became owners and tenants of commercial real estate and offices, expensive apartments and large cottages.
About four years ago, I realized that I was starting to stagnate and get downright bored. Cleaning processes are set up, the management system is in place, people are working. All the main cones have already been filled and every problem has its own solution.
After realizing this thought, I began to look for a new direction and promising niche to apply my energy. I watched the market for six months, studied the niche and all its features, the quality of the services provided, and decided to open my own sneaker cleaner, having previously studied the technology for all processes.
What were the main stages of business development?
The first stage is the search for craftsmen and the opening of the first workshop on the street. Krasnaya, 21A, combined with a point for receiving and issuing orders, in which craftsmen worked with client shoes, and administrators accepted and issued orders. By the way, this workshop still operates to this day.
At first we only cleaned and restored sneakers and other sports shoes. Apparently, we did this quite well, since the clients themselves literally begged us to produce not only sports shoes, but also other shoes and bags. There were also many requests to do not only the “cosmetic” part, but also the repair and alteration of products. The result was that the company began to engage not only in cleaning, but also in the repair and restoration of shoes, bags, leather jackets and motorcycle equipment, and shoe sewing services.
Then I began to scale the business, open new points for receiving and issuing orders, and workshops. A production workshop of 180 sq.m, a warehouse, and an administrative office appeared. All this time I was in close contact with my beloved clients and tried to listen to their ideas as sensitively as possible. As a result, two clothing repair shops were opened and a third was purchased, along with all the many years of experience of its team, a client base, and now we can help with clothing repair of almost any complexity as part of our current activities.
At the same time, partnership agreements were concluded with dry-cleaning companies, and now through us clients can dry-clean their clothes and more: they even handle sleeping bags. We can also help with carpet dry cleaning.
Simultaneously with expanding the range of services provided, we were thinking about how to expand the geography of our points, become closer to our clients, and help them save valuable time.
I guessed what you mean: I saw your devices in the city, can you tell me more?
Yes, sure. At the moment, we operate with 2 main types of devices that we install in locations that are interesting to us – Parcel Lockers and SkyBox. Both types of devices perform the same function – to accept customer shoes, clothing or accessories and store them safely until collection by our regular couriers, but differ from a technical point of view.
Read also: Why are parcel terminal networks not growing in Belarus and in what areas could they be in demand?
A parcel locker is an automated, vandal-resistant device that we install mainly in large shopping centers and hypermarkets with high traffic. Automated means that you just need to click on the “Submit” button and enter your phone number. After this, a free cell will open and the client will be able to put his products. Within 24 hours, our courier will pick up the order and bring it to the workshop, and the sales department will contact the client to agree on the timing and cost of the work. The finished product will be returned to the parcel locker or delivered to the client by courier.
SkyBox is a simpler device, which is a structure made of laminated chipboard, divided into four cells. The locks there are simpler. We install such devices in fitness clubs, barbershops, PVZ marketplaces, gas stations, and clothing stores. There is even one SkyBox in a draft beer store. This type of device is intended for installation in our partners’ establishments, equipped with CCTV cameras, and where there are administrators who open and close them with their keys and signal us that it is necessary to pick up the order.
Talking about our exclusive methods of communication with the client, it is worth noting that SkyCross is a fairly technological company. In order for all collection and delivery points, parcel terminals and SkyBoxes to work as a single whole and one ecosystem, a CRM system is needed. We even have 2 of them, each for its own purposes. The systems are constantly being improved taking into account our requests, consumer service rules and market realities. Taking into account the fact that sometimes clients do not visit physical points for receiving and issuing orders, we had to solve the issue of remotely accepting payment for the services of a network of workshops, and we solved it as conveniently as possible for the client, taking into account all legal standards, using the E-POS remote payment service from ERIP.
Why did you choose SkyBox?
It's simple. I didn’t find analogues of such a device on the market, so I called out to the team: “What are we going to call this?” After the test samples of the device were ready. One of the employees suggested this name and it, as they say, “stuck.” At the moment we are already at the final stage of obtaining a patent for this name. I wouldn’t be surprised if it becomes a household name, like Xerox once became in the world of copiers.
Is it difficult to negotiate with landlords to install such devices?
Both Parcel Lockers and SkyBox have already proven themselves, and landlords are often aware of them. When it all started, there were elements of some kind of mistrust and misunderstanding of the principle of their work, there were many questions “what, how and why”. At the current stage, we have a lot of incoming requests, landlords and business owners themselves offer to consider their locations as partnerships. Currently, 11 parcel terminals and 21 SkyBoxes have already been installed in Minsk and the Minsk region. In any case, we plan to further expand the network of parcel terminals, increase the number of SkyBoxes, and we will be happy to cooperate with landlords and owners of various businesses with large and constant traffic of people.
What were the difficulties and what was easy?
It’s easy to lie on the couch and scroll through the endless feed of your smartphone, or, even worse, click on the TV remote and do nothing. Fortunately, this is not about us).
But we are not afraid of difficulties either, we bite into any, even the most complex tasks, solve them, reflect and take this experience into account in the future.
We are now at the stage of laying a solid foundation for a large systems company, we are prescribing all the processes and regulations. All this is done so that I have time and energy and focus on creating a strong international network. I am a great patriot of our beloved homeland and am sincerely glad and proud that there are opportunities to create such a business in our country.
What is the overall situation in this market today? What is your company's location? What are the prospects?
Minsk and Belarus as a whole are a fairly competitive market, especially in the service sector. I consider SkyCross one of the market leaders, which provides high-quality services and high quality service. But I'm not going to rest on my laurels. I plan to keep myself in good shape, not to stagnate, I have a vision and clear development plans for the next decade, which I will continue to implement. I hope to continue to adhere to an expansive development strategy and move forward. In the near future I am planning to “package” the franchise offer; in the future I would like to create a large global network.
How do you solve personnel problems? Where do people study?
If we talk about craftsmen who are directly involved in working with client products, then everything is complicated. Educational institutions have practically stopped training shoemakers and seamstresses. There are not many smart guys on the labor market who want to work on this topic. We recruit enthusiasts: those who are seriously interested in sneakers, other shoes, we can say that they are “candy wrappers,” and we train them, or in some cases we further train them in workshops, taking into account our quality standards for providing services. There is a core of masters who can be trusted to teach those who have only recently decided to plunge into this world. Since the prestige of our craftsmen’s professions was undeservedly lost, we are trying to return it with the quality of the work performed. We do everything to make the team proud of working in our workshops.
If we talk about administrators of reception and delivery points, the situation is approximately the same. There is no specialized state training for this profession; we teach locally, in accordance with the clearly defined Rules of consumer services for the population. We have developed our own training system.
Regarding the administrative and management personnel, I can say that SkyCross has already become a brand, the company is well-known and there is an opportunity to recruit fairly strong managers.
Can you tell us about the most interesting projects and funny cases?
If we talk about interesting projects, I can already tell you about the imminent opening of a new direction. Some time ago, the team was strengthened by a very skilled craftsman, and in the near future we will be qualitatively repairing and altering fur coats, and sewing leather jackets from scratch. There is a request for the production of such items to order, which will ideally suit the client and will have an individual design.
Our main project and fixed idea is to expand the geography of our presence in the regions of Belarus, making our service more accessible to residents of all regions of our beloved country.
Interviewed by Sergei Skorokhod
