ANALYTICS FOR GRAIN TRADERS
Reached Break-even in 90 Days
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ABOUT CLIENT
Asap Agri is an independent analytical agency specializing in agricultural commodity markets—grain, oilseeds, processing, freight, especially in the Black Sea and Mediterranean regions. Provides daily and weekly reports (PDF) with market overviews, CPT/FOB/CIF prices, Ukrainian balances, harvest forecasts, and transport and freight market behavior. Services include: different subscription levels (standard, premium, exclusive), customized reports on request, and personal consultations with analysts.
GOALS
1. Make the ASAP Agri analytical product commercially successful on the international market among traders and within Atria specialists.
2. Break even and change current believes attitude to the future believes that the Ukrainian agency is capable of providing capable and professional analytics for the global market.
RESULTS
1. In just one year, transforming analytics from zero sales to strong demand. After implementing marketing strategy, ASAP Agri became profitable within 3 months, gained 25+ new customers (70% annual, 30% monthly), and expanded its reach through two-week trial subscriptions.
2. ASAP Agri gained international presence, attracting clients from Egypt, Tunisia, Europe, and Turkey, including major corporations.
Despite the war, Ukraine's agricultural sector showed significant growth in 2024: The total income of agribusiness increased 2.6 times, from UAH 920.9 billion to UAH 2.4 trillion. The largest sources of analytical data in Black Sea Market included: international agencies FastMarkets, Navigator, Argus Media, others, internal research centers of agricultural holdings e.g., Kernel, MHP, Agroprosperis, integration with Bloomberg, Reuters, and traders' own CRM platforms.
Competitive situation and digitalization
By 2024, the market was highly concentrated, with the penetration of digital platforms and predictive analytics systems. International players had scalable solutions and better UX/UI, which increased user confidence. Local agencies, including analytical departments at brokers, faced the problem of a reputation barrier. Without significant investments in automation and data quality, it was difficult for them to compete with international brands.
Key challenges
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Lack of financial resources to create a full-fledged digital platform with a modern interface and convenient usability; analytics could only be provided in PDF format, which lagged far behind market standards.
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The target audience's distrust of the Ukrainian agency as a provider of high-quality and professional analytical data.
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Strong competition from established players with an international reputation.
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The need to create value for several types of clients: traders, analysts, agricultural production specialists, international brokers, and the company's internal brokers.
MARKET OVERVIEW
KEY INSIGHT
No matter how much analytics or information is available on the market, traders always want more information,
Traders need to verify their decisions. — and they are willing to pay not just for one source, but for multiple.
Even the smallest piece of insight information from the market matters to traders, because millions of dollars are at stake — and they are willing to pay for it to double-check their decision.
"We have our own people in the region"
At first, the product had no clear advantages — the analytics weren’t digital, and there was no visual interface or UX design. But the agency’s real strength was its network of local brokers and traders across the Black Sea region — a unique source of first-hand information that big players like Reuters or Navigator couldn’t offer.
This analytics company belonged to Atria Brokers, the regional leader in brokerage services .
The direct access to verified local information became the foundation of our communication strategy.
For trading analytics, this was a real breakthrough: traders and brokers need data they can check at the source. In fact, even professional traders constantly try to find reliable contacts in the regions to understand what’s happening on the ground — yet no single person can capture the full market picture. While global agencies are respected, they lack these real-time local insights in the black sea region. We showed that ours had them — thanks to Atria Brokers’ network.
Marketing Strategy
Target audience
Traders who buy a lot of analytics to test themselves before making a serious decision
Position statement
For market experts and traders working in the Black Sea and Mediterranean regions who demand verified, insider-level intelligence to cross-check and deepen their analysis, ASAP AGRI is the analytical subscription that delivers real-time, on-the-ground insights from an exclusive network of local brokers and traders — because as the analytics from the biggest brokerage company we have direct access to trusted sources across key markets, ensuring depth, accuracy, and an advantage unavailable from mainstream analytics.
WE DIDN’T COMPETE ON THE MARKET — WE CREATED AN ADDITIONAL RESOURCE
To establish our presence in the international market, it was crucial for us to collaborate and partner with leading agricultural analysts who already had strong reputations in the industry. We engaged with them at Global conferences, participated as speakers alongside them, and worked closely in the communications space. This strategic cooperation allowed us to build credibility, leverage their market authority, and position ourselves as a trusted player on the global stage.
The main challenge was to reposition, rebrand, and redesign the analytics product, which research revealed as visually unattractive and overly complex. My market survey and interviews with traders identified key gaps in design, content, and competitive positioning. To address this, we created a 60-question survey covering design, content, competitors, and segmentation. The insights led to a complete visual overhaul, a new logo, and a clearer understanding of the target audience’s character, priorities, and potential segments — resulting in an analytics product aligned with market needs and expectations.
We were invited as experts to leading global media outlets such as Bloomberg and The Telegraph, and participated as speakers at the largest grain conferences and events.
Reposition and Redisign
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Christina Seriabriakova, CEO ASAP AGRI
It’s true that for a whole year we had no sales. Thanks to Anastasia Zaria, just three months after launching the strategy, we broke even and started turning a profit. The visual solutions she proposed and the communication she built fully aligned with our brand’s goals and values. Thanks to the research conducted by Anastasia—including surveys, in-depth interviews, and thorough market analysis—we gained insights we had previously overlooked. She is truly talented, and her work continues to impress us.