Swedish Fashion and Ukrainian Determination Combine for Success

By Natalia Lotra

The efforts of Ukrainians to break into business are legendary, but few stories are a dramatic as that of one determined woman entrepreneur who literally forced her way in to see the CEO of a firm with which she was determined to do business.

In the process of opening a new furniture shop in Odessa 14 years ago, Marina Ponomarenko had decorated her shop with some of the unique accessories of the Paris- based Swedish firm SIA Home Fashion. Soon after opening, she found that customers had paid little attention to the furniture that was her main product line, but had bought every item of the innovative Swedish interior design features that she had thought of merely as window dressing for the furniture.

The result of this experience led to the inescapable conclusion that Ukrainian consumers, freed from the mass produced realities of the Soviet period, were intent on acquiring new design ideas to make their homes bright, joyful, and different.

For Ponomarenko and her partner, Svetlana Sabri, the building process began with importing small lots of SIA items. Soon the small shop in Odessa has become famous all over Ukraine, leading to a decision to expand the relationship with SIA.

Ukraine had enthusiastically embraced SIA’s unusual product lines. The company had grown from a single design in Sweden during the flower-power days of the 1960’s to a Paris-based worldwide organization with goods produced in 29 factories and sales in 60 countries around the world. Understanding the potential of marketing to home fashion hungry Ukraine the home textile, vases, dishware and other interior design features, Ponomarenko believed they was ready to represent SIA in Ukraine.

However, SIA did not seem to be impressed during the early stages of Ponomarenko’s first visit to the company’s Paris offices and kept here waiting for some hours for a promised appointment with a manager. Finally, Ponomarenko decided she no longer wanted to play a waiting game. She broke in to the SIA president’s office, handed him a traditional Ukrainian souvenir and boldly said, “I want to work with you.”

Today, the small furniture shop in Odessa have expanded to large and efficient operation that is well-known in every corner of Ukraine with 11 shops in ten biggest cities of the country – and welcomed with open arms when they visit Paris for the new collection shows. The SIA president whose office was so boldly invaded on that first visit often tells the story of a Ukrainian girl having won his heart and admiration by her decisiveness.

The relationship with SIA is one that has grown to the point that Ponomarenko says, “We bring as much as 70 percent of the assortment presented in the company’s showrooms to Ukraine. I am proud to say that not many of our colleagues in other countries do that, since it is easier to bring just the top sellers, sell them quickly and make money at once.”

Our business is the hard work of many people. For example, we entirely renew our showcases every ten days, she added. This does not mean just moving a few things around, but totally changing the showcase.

We strive to provide our consumers with an integrated concept. If a customer likes a certain design, for example, the “A Fresh Start” line, they then can buy everything they need and want for their home from a floor vase to a sofa cushion.

Sabri emphasizes that the operation has grown mainly by word-of-mouth and developing loyal customers. “Some of our customers have been decorating their homes with our help for many years. They are in our loyalty programs. We move to their new apartments together, and decorate nurseries for their new babies as families expand.”

“We would be happy to welcome more professional clients, i.e. interior decorators, in our shops, but this profession is still in its infancy in Ukraine…We believe that this area will develop soon, but at this point we are still aimed at the end customer. That leads us to train our own specialists in interior decoration.”

Great products, strong marketing efforts and an appreciation of its customers have led the once-small shop in Odessa to become a success story known all over Ukraine – and in Paris as well.