"EVA remains a business primarily about humanity and care": Olga Shevchenko on 23 years of the company, development and growth
14.11.2025
Olha Shevchenko, CEO of the EVA and EVA.UA Retail Chain
In 2025, EVA celebrates its 23rd anniversary. Over this time, the company has grown from a single store in Dnipro into Ukraine's largest drogerie-format retail chain. Today, it encompasses over 1,100 brick-and-mortar stores and approximately 14,000 employees.
I have been with EVA since day one; it represents almost my entire professional history. Now, as we celebrate 23 years, I feel proud not just because we grew, but because we stayed true to ourselves. We remained a company that "cares for you, your family, and your home." This mission is not just a slogan. It has become a core part of our culture and is deeply personal to each of us.
A large business must preserve itself while simultaneously supporting the country. From day one of the war, we did everything possible to keep EVA operating. Logistics were incredibly difficult: ports were closed, shipping containers were stranded worldwide, and inventory was disappearing. We searched for new supply chains and bought our own trucks because no one wanted to drive to Kharkiv or Chernihiv. Our people told us, "You buy the trucks, and we will drive the goods ourselves." We did this so people could see that life had not stopped. We wanted them to walk into a store and feel that the country is alive.
There were moments when things felt very personal. Once, when we were evacuating a store, people walking by said, "If EVA is leaving, it means it's the end for us." That is incredibly painful to hear. Because we are people too—we are those very same Ukrainians. To us, it is also a signal: if we are operating in a city, it means that city is holding on and fighting. It means it is Ukraine.
We always adapt to the situation. We close and evacuate stores only when a general evacuation is officially declared, as happened in Pokrovsk, Dobropillia, Pokrovske, and Mezhova. We are in constant communication with managers, asking employees if they are ready to work. For us, this is the ultimate baseline. If the employees say, "No, it's dangerous," we close the store.
We never expose people to danger. And we always offer employment in other regions. We have a strict rule: if a displaced employee arrives, we hire them without hesitation, even if no official vacancies are available. They are our people, and we must keep them within the family.
When we reopen a store after de-occupation, it is not just a business event—it is a victory for justice. It means we have returned, and life is returning with us.
On the Contribution of Business to State Resilience
In 2024, we paid over UAH 4 billion in taxes. In the first half of 2025 alone, we contributed nearly UAH 2.5 billion. Honesty and transparency are also part of our responsibility. Jobs, salaries, and taxes form the economic foundation that we cannot afford to lose.
On Collaboration with Ukrainian Manufacturers
At the beginning of the war, many suffered heavily: some factories relocated, others were destroyed. But now, we are witnessing a revival. New Ukrainian brands are emerging that are in no way inferior to global brands in terms of quality or design. In fact, their products are often even better: innovative, trend-setting, and at the same time, more affordable than European or Korean alternatives. We are eager to work with them.
However, to be honest: the role of retail is not to "develop" the manufacturer, but to provide them with a platform. If a product meets standards and resonates with the customer, it earns its place on the shelves. Promotion, on the other hand, is a different kind of partnership. If a brand comes forward with a proposal for cooperation, we are all for it. But promoting it at our own expense is a no. We earn our money fairly, and we provide a fair launchpad for others.
On the "Women's Energy" and EVA BEAUTY Formats
The "Women's Energy" format emerged before the war. We simply realized it was time to change: to refresh the design, make the stores more modern, and more appealing. This is not a completely new format; rather, it is a new customer experience featuring updated equipment and a slightly different brand perception. We decided not to wait for the war to end and began opening stores with this fresh look now. Women come in and tell us that the atmosphere feels completely different, even easier to breathe. For us, that is the ultimate validation.
EVA BEAUTY was born out of e-commerce. The online assortment is ten times larger than in a standard EVA store. We thought: if this works online, why not create a physical space? The only challenge is floor space. We require 700–800 square meters, and such venues are scarce. Nevertheless, we already have three stores open, and we plan to open two more by the end of the year—in Chernivtsi and Dnipro. EVA BEAUTY caters to a different audience, falls into a different price segment, and offers a wider selection. We can see that the demand is there.
On the Scale of the E-Commerce Segment
Online sales are growing rapidly. In 2024, turnover increased by 71%, and this year we are on track for 55–60% growth. Currently, online operations account for roughly 16–17% of EVA’s total turnover, and we are continuously developing this direction because we see immense potential.
Last year, we transitioned our website into a marketplace. We now feature over 300,000 products from third-party merchants, which represents an entirely new business model. E-commerce is a living organism. Everything updates daily: services, logistics, and technologies. We always strive to stay a step ahead.
We are building a new infrastructure to support this. We acquired a new distribution center (DC) in Brovary so that next year we can transfer our retail warehouse operations there, completely freeing up our current DC to fulfill online orders. We are also building another distribution center in Lviv. Each of them will be capable of processing up to 700,000–800,000 SKUs. We are making heavy capital investments because these are investments in the future. The Lviv warehouse needs to be operational by Black Friday 2026, fully equipped with robotics, automation, and modern systems. We are building for tomorrow.
As for our in-house courier delivery service, we operate strictly where we have warehouses: Kyiv, Lviv, Dnipro, Odesa, and Kharkiv. We won't be expanding the delivery geography next year; instead, we will focus on perfecting what is already running. E-commerce is impossible without high-quality logistics. It is the core foundation.
Our mobile app is also becoming a critical piece of the entire ecosystem. Up to 40% of all orders are now placed through the app. Because of this, we want to significantly improve its speed and user experience, while introducing new features. The app shouldn't just be a utility; it should be an integral part of our customer's daily life.
"We have no right to stop." — EVA CEO Olha Shevchenko on the company's 23 years, the war, and humanity in business.