UKRAINE. Ukrainian travel retail start-up Mydutyfree has moved to increase its international audience in the face of the turmoil in its home country with the introduction of two new content services. One is a global database of duty free stores and the second a country by country review of international customs regulations.
In 2015, Mydutyfree became one of the first companies to offer an array of digital services to the travel retail industry and associated customers, providing click-and-collect options to local duty free stores and international retailers such as Gebr. Heinemann, Lagardère Travel Retail and Flemingo.
The company said that while it has lost its Ukrainian site visitors since the war began, it has managed to increase the audience from Europe, Asia and America by +20-30%, helped by its two new services.
Mydutyfree’s duty free shop database service contains data about more than 800 duty free stores. It is designed so that the customers glean all the information they need about these stores, including opening hours, the retailer’s name, store description, shop location and store rating. For more on this service, see the video below.
Mydutyfree’s new customs allowances content aims to help customers to know how much and which duty free goods can be transported by an individual to a particular country. The customs regulations of over 140 countries are reviewed on the Mydutyfree website – you can see the section here.
Mydutyfree CEO Alex Gusarov said: “Since we lost our Ukrainian partners due to hostilities, it became especially important to engage new foreign partnerships. Even at the start of our marketplace, we’ve been faced with a chicken and egg situation.
“We need more customers to attract new partners, but also we need more partners to attract new customers. Relying on audience research we’ve decided to develop content services that give an additional value to customers to break the loop.”
Gusarov added that Mydutyfree’s business continuity plan was a logical sequel to the company’s main strategy, describing the COVID-19 crisis as “a kind of rehearsal for the bigger challenges”.
Reflecting on the impact of the Russian invasion of Ukraine on his business, Gusarvo said: “From the very beginning of the war, it was most important for me to make sure the team and the business are safe. We took all necessary security measures immediately. And after the first weeks of adaptation to new difficult conditions, returned to active product development.”
He added: “Now we are not only growing quickly and opening new horizons but also volunteering to help our country to get through the war.”
