Mapei continues to grow in Ukraine

Mapei Ukraine, the Group’s Ukrainian subsidiary, was first established in 2006, approximately 6 years after it first began distributing Mapei products on the local market.

Since then, the company, whose headquarters are based in Kyiv, has continued to grow, setting up an extremely efficient distribution system based around two main sales channels: distributors and DIY.

Mapei Ukraine also uses these channels to supply the market with materials manufactured by other brands belonging to the Group, such as Cercol, Polyglass and others. For example, Mapei and Cercol products can be bought in stores belonging to the big Epicentr chain that has 74 sales outlets (covering an overall area of 1.5 million m²) and attracts 63 million visitors-a-year. These stores sell Mapei and Cercol products for installing ceramic tiles and stone materials..

Mapei Ukraine’s network includes 12 distributors in Ukraine and 1 distributor, 1 sales representative and a partner company in Georgia which can efficiently supply the market in both countries with materials from all the Group’s product lines.

Mapei Ukraine began expanding beyond the nation’s borders in 2009, as it began operating in Georgia, where the subsidiary has set up a profitable business partnership with various construction companies and a distributor.

Thanks to this sales network, the efficiency  of its Technical Assistance Service and the hard work of its 69 members of staff, Mapei Ukraine has grown constantly from when it was first established right through to the present day, totalling revenue of 9.5 million Euros in 2020.

This has been achieved partly through the launching of a new range of admixtures for bituminous road surfaces, which account for approximately 1.5 million Euros of the subsidiary’s total sales. The result has also been achieved thanks to a working partnership with the company IPT, which does plenty of business in this sector of the market.

The subsidiary seems to have “held up” well despite the challenges posed by the Covid-19 pandemic, and the nation has emerged from the ensuing economic crisis much better than it did from two other recent major recessions that hit the country: the 2009 crisis when its GDP dropped by 14.7% and the 2015 recession (-9.7%). In 2019 the national economy grew by 3.8%. The World Bank is forecasting a 4.5% fall in the GDP in 2020 and according to the International Monetary Fund Ukraine’s GDP will grow again in 2021 (+3%).



ALL-ENCOMPASSING MARKETING

Last year Mapei Ukraine began a partnership with the biggest community of professionals in the Ukrainian building industry: Liha Maistriv, which boasts over 10,000 users sharing their experiences and know-how on the web and at off-line meetings. Working with Liha Maistriv, next May Mapei Ukraine will be holding workshops at KyivBuild 2021, an exhibition focused on the world of building. One of them will be devoted to the ULTRATOP range of systems for cementitious floor and wall coatings, attracting a wide audience to products that are really growing in popularity in the world of interior design.

The “Best mixes for the building industry” prize that the subsidiary was awarded in 2020 pays testimony to Mapei Ukraine’s success on the local market: this award is aimed at picking the nation’s most outstanding products based on an online vote, crisscrossed with statistics from social media.

Mapei Ukraine has been very active in sports for some time, particularly through its sponsorship since 2015 of Khimik women’s volleyball team that has been so successful, winning the National League 9 times, the Ukrainian Volleyball Super Cup 4 times, and the Ukrainian Cup 7 times.

Mapei Ukraine is also planning to take part in the Kyiv Chestnut Run for the second time next May. The race is aimed at raising funds to buy medical equipment for Ukrainian paediatric cardiology and cardiosurgical units.