2019-05-08T14:51:00+03:00 Economy 2024-05-15T09:15:15+03:00

Ukrainian news

Ukrainian news

Gennadii Vykhodtsev: Foxtrot is 25 years old, and it’s an expert brand

Gennadii Vykhodtsev: Foxtrot is 25 years old, and it’s an expert brand

Exclusive interview by co-owner and CEO to Foxtrot Group of Companies Gennadii Vykhodtsev with Delo.ua on the occasion of the brand’s grand jubilee

Gennadii Vykhodtsev: Foxtrot brand is 25 years old this year. Over these years SAV-Distribution (Foxtrot TM) has taken 50th place in the Forbes ranking of Ukraine’s top-200 companies and 2nd place in the ranking of companies by retail trade in electronics and household appliances. I’m ready to share how our team daily competes for customers’ trust and has become an attractive employer.

The history of Foxtrot began in the stormy 1990es. Do you remember the times when the empire collapsed and most people found themselves on the verge of survival? We - my partner Valerii Makovetskyi and I – had the choice between working as a teacher and an engineer and carping about the life or creating our own life scenarios.

Foxtrot Group of Companies’ beneficiaries: mini-files

Gennadii Vykhodtsev graduated from the M. Horkiy State Pedagogical Institute of Kyiv (technical disciplines). Over 1983-1990 he was a Master of Industrial Training at the Kiev State Special Technical College, building specialty. More information about Gennadii Vykhodtsev. 

Valerii Makovetskyi graduated from the Komunarsk State Mining and Metallurgical Institute (mechanical engineering faculty). In 1983, he was a turner at the Melitopol Machine Building Factory, and in 1985 he worked as a mechanical workshop supervisor at a production area of the Artem Production Association in Kyiv. A full-scale biography of Valerii Makovetskii.

We’d love to hear the history of Foxtrot brand firsthand. How did your business get started?

Today - with the benefit of hindsight – I can say that those years were the times of unique opportunities. Imported appliances, to which most USSR people wouldn’t have access, became available. A number of cooperative societies opened, and everyone had a chance to become a producer or a businessman.

To succeed, it was enough to be willing and able to invest your time in business and cover the expenses on business development. For a start, we were headquartered in my apartment and put ads in newspapers to sell appliances. Later we placed print and radio adverts. And then our home trading developed into a wholesale household appliances and electronics business.

We received orders from all over the country. It may seem a bit funny now but that time, when we started delivering our products to regions of the country by train, it was a kind of a breakthrough. Our wholesale customers received their orders quickly, and effective logistics made us competitive. What’s about the money, Gennadii Vykhodtsev did not get it out of the blue. I remember taking our first loans. The first loan principal amounted to 100 thousand. Plus interests. And we had to repay the interests immediately after having taken the loan. But it was the only option, we had to accept these terms. This is how we opened the first outlet of the Foxtot chain in Kharkiv in 1994.

Whatever the consequences, we always adhere to traditional values:

1. Put our heart and soul into work. Gennadiy Vykhodtsev and Valerii Makovetskyi have never done anything for the sake of appearance. Our business is our child. We’ve been investing our time, money and efforts in it for long, and now, when Foxtrot is 25 years old, we can see a great result.
2. Motivation. Our employees are highly motivated. They work to get money rather than show good results just on paper, or being afraid of their bosses or feeling guilty. That is why vacancies in Foxtrot Ukraine are in demand in the labor market.
3. Development. We continuously improve ourselves, learn, leave our comfort zone, and do our best to harmonize our business with the Earth’s sustainable development concept.
4. Our business is 100% legal. We conclude no grey deals and we pay taxes on every item we import and sell in Ukraine.

Due to these postulates, we’ve managed to increase the amount of our outlets and create a viable brand. Even several ones. The Foxtrot Group of Companies also owns the Secunda brand and 5 DEPO't Center and Fantasy Town malls.

What are Gennadii Vykhodtsev and Foxtrot Group of Companies’ plans for 2019, how are you going to develop the business?

In 2018-2019, the Foxtrot Group of Companies plans to keep expanding to regions of the country and have 60 outlets. The planned reforms include not only external improvements but also activation of every customer communication channel. For instance, you can order a required smartphone model from our website and receive it from the outlet closest to you. Or buy a TV and send it as a present to your grandmother living in other region of the country. Plus consulting service, high service standards, a balanced price policy. We’ve been doing our best to be customer-friendly that is why Foxtrot service standards have already become iconic. We believe that Foxtrot service standards have become exemplary in the industry as a whole. And our team keeps working for customers to say "I want to be served like in Foxtrot".

Retail trade is facing change. There is no need for an outlet to have every item physically available any more. The range of smartphones or laptops available can be distributed between several outlets in several cities or towns. When required, it does not take long to deliver an item to an outlet or a pick-up point.

That is why traditional outlets are transforming to show rooms, the areas for communication between the brand and customers. Customers make their final decisions and buy items online. The quicker we respond to customers’ requests – sometimes every minute counts - the more positive reviews Foxtrot receives from its clients.

Let me also say a couple of words about the team of the Foxtrot Group of Companies – personnel is the key. We like gifted people, professionals. It’s important! When we hired our CEO and CFO, we understood that it would be harmful to continuously interfere in operation management. It would prevent their professional development. Foxtrot should keep being an expert brand, which means, in my understanding, being a public company associated with not only Valerii Makovetskyi or me but also the team. Historically, brands are not associated with personalities in the household appliances market. And it is highly important now to change it. People tend to trust people. Trust is the key thing on which everything is based.