Dmitry Dokin at AqAltyn Identifies Nine Systemic Issues in the Ice Cream Market in the CIS

Introducing the expert's speech at AqAltyn 2025:

"Challenges and Pains of the Ice Cream Industry

"We wanted to say: 'Welcome to the coldest race in business history!', but... let's talk about the problems on the market track. In Russia, there are 183 ice cream producers, and all make the familiar childhood plombir. Meanwhile, three make "Wow", five make very tasty, and 175 make just plain white, fatty, sweet ice cream. It seems only three innovators have mastered the racing car ride, five leaders are in good European cars, and the mass front is content with "Chinese" cars with a "Muscovite" emblem.

Last year, 1043 new products were released, 4 of which accounted for 18% in volume and 25% in value (NTech). The question is: were the other 1039 novelties a blank shot or just for the novelty report?

Look at the NTech brand ranking: "A third of them are company names, two are dances around the notorious plombir," and "Magnate" and "Golden Standard" were invented by our team 20-25 years ago. What has Russian marketing been doing for all these 25 years?

Main problem: the industry has no roots – its own school!

- There is no R&D, technologists, and manufacturers – few experts, professionals, and stars for a qualitative breakthrough in the industry.

- Universities poorly teach how to research, analyze information, make decisions, and formulate strategies.

- Like Moses, we have been wandering the market for 30 years with a net, catching individual stars in bits.

- Therefore, we decided to open a dairy production department of the Almaty Polytechnic (for 25 students) at our factory in 2026 – to grow our own personnel.

- Of course, specialists need exposure and "tasting" and constant work with global R&D companies, but the academic base must be stable.

"Without a good engine, the car won't go far!"

Marketing and design caution problem

In our emotional and impulsive category, there are few bright brands, new packaging solutions, and juicy designs – freezers are filled with gray products with dull labels: "GOST", "Plombir", "On Cream", and other hackneyed phrases. It's as if marketers are saying: "The best is the enemy of the good – be careful with changes." And designers get painfully banal briefs: "Make it prettier – so it sells better."

The global visualization guru Lars Valentine is no longer with us – he said 20 years ago based on scientific neuro-research: "Photoshop kills sexual attractiveness in glossy magazines for women and necessary appetizing for products!"

Everyone is looking at AI as a panacea in product design – we're just rubbing our hands: "Go ahead!"

Analytics – not just beautifully presented statistics

We have many international and local analytical agencies, but their reports resemble beautifully presented statistical statements. We need to increase domestic categories for dynamic consumption growth, but there are no hints or clues in these analyst reports. Although new NTech research on purchase algorithms and sales growth of some categories provides some food for thought.

We all need strong stars in the domestic category – otherwise, the entire category, like a racing car, will not move.

Speaking of the developed domestic category "Multipacks" in the West, here we simply need robotization and millions for automating all production processes.

"The racing car is expensive, but it develops a speed of 350 km per hour!"

Robotization of not only production but also warehouse processes

Robotization costs money, and for many years we have been convincing ourselves with a smart look: "We don't need it – we have cheap labor." But... suddenly this labor force started to disappear, and the entire stadium suddenly emptied! As a logistics expert from X5 recently said, in our robotization projects, the "Payback" section has disappeared, but "Business Sustainability" has appeared! The question is not how many people you saved with robots, but whether your warehouse is working today or not?

But all this requires significant finances and is only feasible for leaders.

Export your own or create separate products?

Already a hackneyed quote in the market: "You need to sell your own, not adjust to export markets!" How??? The Chinese market is big but the most difficult – KDV has been selling 40,000 tons of "Krokan" candies to China for 6 years but hasn't added a single additional SKU in this time. With a hackneyed approach, you won't sell a ton!

Speaking of exports to Kazakhstan and Central Asia – the main issue is distributors, they simply don't exist or are small! You can start searching now, or wait for the construction of the Formula 1 stadium in the new city of Alatau, but... the result will be the same. Here you need to open your own branch, which is risky and costly!

Expensive logistics – a question for the poor?

I recently talked about Kazakhstani water "Tassay", which travels 4000 km to Moscow and wins over local premium water in expensive capital restaurants. Today I will tell you that we are sending ice cream to Minsk 5000 km away and selling more there than any Russian producer for whom Belarus is next door. The question isn't in the kilometers but in the price per kilogram. And it's the price per kilogram on the shelf that compensates for the raw material rise – leaders' prices are 1400 rubles per kg, twice as expensive as the "mass front" at 650 rubles.

Networks and PL – who to fear more?

Many complaints about the dominance and pressure of networks – but there will only be more of them, and they will press even harder! Think and create a product interesting for the networks. Help networks manage the category – you are professionals! We helped one network increase ice cream sales by 15% – show-boxes in bonnets and immediately got a 20% share on the shelf.

PL can be interesting to you in two cases:

- if your cost is lower than competitors, but this is also a plus for brands,

- you created a joint brand with the network, as in the "Sarafanovo" project.

Functionality and usefulness of products

So far, there are many postulates akin to faith in a good future – you can simply rely on science and outpace competitors on the turn. Not all global trends work the same here, and we need to separate the wheat from the chaff. Around the world, fat is reduced from 8% to 5-6%, and on our plombirs, it grows from 12% to 15%. Around the world, milk fat is replaced with vegetable, and with us, vegetable decreases, because Coconut is like a leper – in a separate freezer, and Palm – akin to poison. So far, scientific medicine has only proven the harm of sugar and the benefits of fermented products and fiber.

What is our Racing Car made of?

Formula 1 cars are made of titanium and carbon, and we currently only have access to Chinese stainless steel that rusts in a year or two – but they are moving forward. There are also market leaders: Danish "Tetra Pak" and "Gram" plus advanced Poles from "Ice Group" – but they do not supply equipment to Russia.

"Which of these problems bothers you the most right now?"