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Max Avtukhov has a clear goal in mind for Dubai-based Yango Tech. The goal is to build a software giant for grocery stores that will become the standard in the e-commerce space. “This is his SaaS (Software-as-a-Service) for venture companies that want to build a successful e-grocery business,” Avtukhov explains. “Long term, we want to become the industry standard for all retail technology and become a retail technology powerhouse.”
Avtukhov, who founded Yango University of Technology’s headquarters in the UAE in 2022, is using his ferocious work ethic to take the fledgling business to such great heights. “I’m always on a plane, because in the first few years an organization requires a lot of effort, a lot of energy, you have to try and fail a lot, you have to be relentless and energetic. Because there is a need,’” Avtukhov explained on a Zoom call from his Dubai office. “As the years go by, it actually becomes more prudent to stabilize, introduce bureaucracy, reduce chaos, etc. We expand our activities, sell more goods, etc. We are at the beginning of this first phase where we need solutions to understand which path is most profitable to achieve our goal of becoming the industry standard and the new Oracle of the world.”
Mr. Avtukhov, who holds a bachelor’s degree in economics from Moscow State University, spent the first years of his career in the banking sector and prior to joining the company, he worked in mergers and acquisitions (M&A) and corporate finance activities across Europe, Asia and the Middle East. I worked on it. At some of Europe’s tech giants. “So today, my company has first-hand experience in launching and operating electronic grocery stores and has both the expertise and technology to help other retailers succeed,” Avtukhov said. says. “Sometimes we know better than, say, people who just randomly create a technology and try to apply it to their business without actually having any experience running an e-commerce business. My goal is to promote the highest possible industry standards.” That’s first and foremost what we want for ourselves and for ourselves. ”
Yango Tech offers two types of products and services, Avtukhov explains. “One is related to the realization of e-grocery, and the second is about the digitalization of offline operations. For example, by installing cameras on the store computer he can get an overview of the vision.” he says. “We use technology to eliminate inefficiencies in the retail value chain, whether it is an offline retail store or a specialized electronic grocery store,” said Avtukhov, head of grocery distribution at Yango Tech. It explains that the support service is aimed at existing e-grocers who are looking for ways to improve revenue or increase market share. “For some reason, they’re losing market share to marketplaces and other faster or more prominent players in some ways. If you dig down to the layers underneath why they’re not gaining traction, , an important issue is always related to the quality of service,” explains Avtukhov. “Fundamentally, they don’t deliver on time and completely. Another reason has to do with the overall user experience. Marketplaces hold users to high standards in terms of user convenience. “Small retailers face challenges to meet.”This is a high bar to meet in order to meet the same demands. ”
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Avtukhov said that while Yango Tech’s first solution (products and services to support grocery sales) answers the question “why don’t we sell enough?”, the second solution (digitizing offline retail stores) products and services) is trying to solve the question “Why can’t I sell?”, he added. “We’re not getting enough margin” puzzle. As for offline retailers, Avtukhov says Yangotech offers a variety of services that allow consumers to achieve the same personalization and convenience in physical stores that they encounter online. “As an example, by installing cameras with computer vision technology, we can create a digital trace of each product and say, “Okay, guys, we don’t have this diaper. Please put it on the shelf. If you have a grocery store chain, you’ll typically have a planogram, or how the products are arranged on the shelf. It’s hard to manage. If you leave something behind, you incur a loss. That’s why we ensure planogram compliance. And a third example is something like: For example, a supplier is a marketing activity in which they pay a certain amount of marketing funds to retailers to increase the weight on their shelves.They are running promotions, so they can check you, audit you, and make sure you are a good fit. “We’re actually following a margin agreement with them. We’re here to improve their offline operations, which increases their revenue by a few percentage points.”
Currently, Yango Tech has operations in the UAE, Saudi Arabia, Turkey, Uzbekistan, Kyrgyzstan, and has established partnerships in India. Avtukhov added that the company is also looking to start operations in Azerbaijan and Armenia. According to Avtukhov’s experience, the Middle East market, especially his UAE, is very open to innovation. “I believe that the UAE is currently one of the best markets in the world in terms of gross domestic product (GDP) growth, geopolitical location, and many other aspects such as a young population and high income levels. I believe in it,” he says. “Companies that achieve quality and speed and connect with younger generations will consolidate greater market share in the future.”
Meanwhile, all markets in India and the Asia-Pacific region are in the process of transitioning from traditional unorganized retail to organized retail, Avtukhov continues. “Sometimes we even jump into modern retail and its digital and omnichannel experiences,” he says. “We look at 100 small retail chains in India, ranging from 10 to 100 stores, that serve a fairly affluent population with emphasis on things like freshness. They’re having a hard time getting online, it seems, because they’re not big enough.” They’re good enough to make something on their own, but not good enough to get a premium listing on an aggregator. Instead, we find ourselves in a situation where deliveries are made via WhatsApp or over the phone. But they are very enthusiastic and basically hungry. Facilitate market transformation from traditional to digital retail. ”
Avtukhov continued that in all markets, there is a growing interest in computer vision technology among retailers, which has enabled the significant growth of Yango Tech’s products. “Retailers in every market we observed have already allocated budget to solve inefficiencies in physical stores for years, but it has not worked for all retailers. It’s only now that we have a business case to start with, because number one, we have this.”
Yango Tech currently employs approximately 100 full-time professionals, the majority of whom are engineers, based in the UAE, Eastern Europe, across the Commonwealth of Independent States (CIS), and in India. From a business development perspective, the company focuses on enterprise customers (medium to large companies), which requires Mr. Avtukhov to be close to and gain the trust of executive-level decision makers. “Actually, this is my biggest pain point, because I used to build a B2C business, where the customer is the end customer and you can hear from them immediately,” he says. says. “But here, it’s much more subtle. It takes a lot of effort to reach those people. That’s why we like to go to conferences and panels. Because the decision-makers It gives me time to talk to people and get their opinions.”We asked them to talk about their business challenges. ”
Looking ahead to 2024, Avtukhov aims to maintain the company’s commitment to rapid growth and offer new services. “For example, we currently sell e-grocery enablement as an enterprise solution,” he says. “It’s pretty heavy, like a spaceship. But by the end of next year, we’ll be able to sell it in modules. If we sell one, then another, then three, we’ll have an addressable market.” “This gives us tens of thousands of potential customers, again for next year and the year after. We are now building the foundation for the future.” is building.”
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