Ascona Askona

Ascon is a vertically integrated retailer specializing in the production of mattresses, beds, sofas and other products for healthy sleep. The company independently distributes and sells goods of its own production: a wide retail network includes 949 own salons and stores operating under a franchise under the brands of Ascona, Hilding Anders and King Koil. Ascona's products are presented in 230 cities of Russia and are imported into 8 neighboring countries: Azerbaijan, Armenia, Belarus, Georgia, Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, Latvia, Ukraine.

Illustration: kovrovsegodnya.ru

History

2023: Data breach of 2 million customers

On June 7, 2023, it became known about the Ascona data leak. In this regard, the Russian manufacturer of sleep products began an internal audit.

According to the Telegram channel "Information Leaks," a file with 1.9 million records was publicly available, including:

• FULL NAME;
• gender;
• date of birth;
• email addresses (almost 1.4 million unique emails);
• phone numbers (more than 1.6 million numbers);
• city.

It became known about the leakage of data "Ascona"

The relevance of data in dumps covers the period from July 2018 to April 20, 2023, according to the Telegram channel "Information Leaks." It is clarified that a SQL dump from CMS Bitrix with a database of registered users of the site got into open access askona.ru.

To date, we are conducting an internal audit of this incident. We understand the importance of personal data and are making every effort to protect them, "the Ascona press service told TASS.

According to the Telegram channel "Information Leaks," hackers from the NLB group are behind the attack on Ascona, due to which the data of SberThank, Alfastrakhovanie and the state IT developer GNIVC were leaked. The day before, they announced the drain of 12 companies and posted a database of buyers of Auchan, Your Home and Gloria Jeans.^[1]

2022: Investing RUB 102 mln in IT infrastructure

Since the beginning of 2022, Ascona has invested 102 million rubles in the development of its IT infrastructure. The manufacturer of furniture and sleep products announced this in early May 2022.

In particular, the funds went to the processing of the contact center processes and general customer information service (CRM-CS project). A digital space has appeared on the basis of the CRM system, combining all communication channels with the client (telephony, SMS, chats, instant messengers). A set of services for the client's personal account (full purchase history, claims management, omnikorzin) was also put into operation as part of the project of the same name, which is the original development of Ascona.

Furniture manufacturer Ascona invested 102 million rubles in the development of its IT infrastructure

The company plans for the current year radical changes in the IT landscape and processes: the accelerated development of digital interaction with the client, the processing of positioning and presentation of the main product categories of the company. In addition, it is planned to expand the functionality of the client's personal account, add specialized content to product cards, expand self-service services, and replace the commodity movement system in the retail segment.

For the modernization carried out in the first quarter of 2022, 136 million rubles were allocated, the amount of capital expenditures amounted to 264.5 million rubles. The changes affected a number of departments:

• furniture: automation of the process of painting furniture products, increasing productivity, increasing the volume of manufactured products, updating equipment, reconstruction of premises for the manufacture of furniture.
• raw materials: increasing the production capacity of synthepone; reconstruction of cardboard production to ensure an increase in labor productivity, personnel safety and improving the quality of finished products.

In 2022, the Swedish concern Building Anders, which owns a 73% stake in Ascons, intends to invest about 193.5 million rubles in the company.^[2]

2021: Agreement with the ICD for the provision of a line for 800 million rubles

Moscow Credit Bank (MKB) November 11, 2021 announced the conclusion of an agreement for the provision of credit a line for 800 million to the rubles Ascona Group of Companies. A subsidy is applied to the loan agreement within the framework of the resolution Governments "On state support industrial for enterprises implementing corporate programs to increase competitiveness." ICD actively participates financing the Russian in exporters in accordance to data with the decree. Participation in the program helps industrial enterprises to develop the export of goods and receive financing on preferential terms.

We are pleased to provide Ascona Group with the necessary amount of funding so that it can increase its production and export goods to the countries of the European Union and the United States. The company will also have access to a large line of ICD products, including services for operations related to currency conversion and currency control, "said Maxim Korzhov, Head of the ICD Corporate Clients Directorate. - For November 2021, agreements were reached on the transfer of ten foreign currency contracts to service. In the future, it is planned to expand cooperation as the company's export volumes grow,

The rate of change is too high. Customers and business models change, new goods constantly appear, every now and then they shoot. startups To remain competitive, any company needs to constantly develop. One of the strategic directions of the company is to strengthen expansion into the the European markets, and this will help us, among other things, with financial support tools, thanks to which we plan to increase the volume of production of exported goods and expand the assortment matrix, "commented Evgeny Kirillov, CFO of Askona Life Group, which includes Ascona Group.

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