Ukrposhta, Ukraine's national postal operator, has launched a joint pilot project with electronics retail chain Tsitrus to sell products through a catalog at post office branches. The project was announced by Ukrposhta general director Ihor Smilianskyi and Tsitrus CEO Artem Shevchenko.
The catalog includes about 140 small and medium-sized items, including smartphones, headphones, small home appliances, accessories and other popular products.
Smilianskyi said the project is aimed primarily at rural communities that lack electronics stores. He said the enemy is attacking retail chains in Ukraine as well as logistics companies, so the companies are adapting together, including figuring out how and what can work when there is no stable communication or power supply.
How the delivery works
Orders will be delivered within two to five business days after confirmation by the supplier, with delivery costing 50 hryvnias per shipment. Customers will be able to choose a product from the catalog, place an order and pick it up at their local Ukrposhta branch.
Reaching rural Ukraine
Shevchenko said the project should make electronics and home appliances more accessible to residents of villages and small towns. He wrote that more than 10 million people in Ukraine live in villages and small settlements, many of which have limited access to physical electronics and appliance stores.
Shevchenko said the scale of Ukrposhta's network is a key part of the project. The company has more than 4,000 permanent branches and about 2,000 mobile branches, serving more than 20,000 settlements.
In late June, Ukrposhta became a verified partner of Etsy, a move intended to simplify the export of Ukrainian goods through the marketplace.
