The future is coming faster than it seems. Even in such a traditional, almost conservative area, like food retail. Today retail is a dynamically developing industry that is being whipped up by rapidly changing consumer demand.  

For each generation of customers it becomes more demanding than the previous one. That's why in the fight for the buyer, the victory will be for the innovator.

According to leading national and foreign experts, in 2019 food retail is expected to be profoundly changed: large formats will slow down their development, discounters and “home stores”, retail outlets specialized in eco-products, cheese, and beer shops will continue to develop actively. Experiments with digital technologies will gain momentum: self-checkout cash registers, payments via mobile terminals.

Shops without sellers, supermarkets without visitors, automated points of sale of street vending - these and other formats are already working in the USA and European countries, and very soon they will appear in Ukraine. Last year, ATB Corporation began experimenting in this direction.

In August, in Zaporizhia, ATB opened the first Express store. The company notes that the new concept is designed specifically for the bedroom comunities of large cities. The store is a kind of experimental platform where new trading solutions and services are tested for the company. ATB Express has installed the latest generation refrigeration and freezing equipment, the latest lighting, insulation, heating and energy recovery systems.

According to Borys Markov, this year the largest retail chain of Ukraine also intends to expand the range, increasing the share of its own brand (STM) products from such brands as De Luxe Foods & Goods Selected, ATB special order, Svoya Linіya, Rozumnyi vibir. Of the total range of the network’s assortment (more than 3,500 positions), 800 items are goods of their own trademarks.

A special place in this list is occupied by imports, marked for the buyer by the brand "De Luxe Foods & Goods Selected", which was created by ATB in order to acquaint consumers with the cuisine of different nations of the world. From abroad, the stores supply the products that cannot be grown or produced in Ukraine: exotic vegetables and fruits, some types of mushrooms, tea and coffee, olive oil, as well as goods characteristic of a particular region (Italian pasta, Belgian chocolate , Sri Lankan tea, Thai rice, Spanish olives, and more. The company imports such goods to Ukraine independently, without resorting to the help of intermediaries. It not only guarantees consumer protection against fakes and falsification, but also allows significant savings. Buyers purchase high-quality STM goods at prices up to 30% cheaper than similar branded products.

The expansion of the ATB-Market retail network in 2018 to 990 stores in 253 locations in 22 regions of Ukraine creates for the Corporation all the necessary resources for the further development of this area in the coming year.