S Group’s online grocery sales continued to grow after the record year marked in 2020. In 2021, sales increased by 55 per cent from the previous year. Online grocery shopping accounted for a quarter of the growth in daily consumer goods sales recorded for the entire Group.

Increased capacity and the new online grocery shop, S-kaupat.fi, spurred growth that outperformed the market.

“Our strong growth continued all year, including in the last quarter, despite the reference year’s excellent figures. We expect to have regained market leadership in the latter half of the year,” says Arttu Laine, Deputy CEO of SOK.

Continued investments in online grocery shopping

This year, S Group’s investments in the development of all sectors of online grocery shopping will exceed those of 2021.

“We will focus on developing online grocery shopping nationwide. In addition to expanding our network, we will continue to develop the S-kaupat.fi service jointly with our customers. We will decide on automation solutions that support picking operations and innovate new service trials this year,” says Jarkko Kyttänen, CDO in charge of developing S Group’s online grocery shopping.

More than 200 of S Group’s grocery shops currently offer online shopping services. The network has grown more than sixfold during the pandemic, and its growth will continue this year. The goal is to make online grocery shopping accessible to as many S Group co-op members as possible through either home delivery or pick-up points conveniently located along members’ daily routes.

“Most of our customers favour pick-up points, and these will become even more popular as the pandemic recedes,” says Kyttänen.

All the familiar shops in one service

S-kaupat.fi is an umbrella service for all the S group supermarket chains (Prisma, S-market, Sale, Alepa, Food Market Herkku). The cornerstones of service include permanently affordable prices, a wide range of products and a bonus paid on purchases.

“We believe that an affordable overall price is crucial. We want to be our co-op members’ first choice, in both brick-and-mortar and online shopping. We offer the same prices and ranges in both. Prisma, with its widest selection, is also the most affordable option in online shopping,” says Kyttänen.

S-kaupat.fi satisfies various customer needs, enabling both large weekly purchases and smaller top-up purchases. Inexpensive express deliveries are now being tested in selected shops. S-kaupat.fi is being constantly developed based on customer needs and experiences, and features designed to satisfy customers are regularly added to the service.

S Group’s online grocery shopping in 2021:

• Sales increased by 55% from the previous year, more than 460 per cent higher than in 2019.

• More than 30,000 weekly orders. There are already about 40,000 orders a week.

• The average price of purchases was around EUR 120.

• 148,000 co-op members as customers.

• 58 per cent of customers choose pick-up, while 42 per cent opt for home delivery.

• More than 200 grocery shops are now involved, compared to 31 at the outset of the coronavirus pandemic.

S-kaupat.fi encompasses all S Group’s more than 1,000 daily consumer goods sites, more than 200 of which currently offer online grocery shopping. Learn more about the S-kaupat.fi service at www.s-kaupat.fi or go to your application store to download and install the S-kaupat application on your smartphone.