“S Group’s online grocery shop is being developed on a broad front. Not only are we investing in the most comprehensive nationwide network, driven by Prisma stores, we also aim to develop faster services to better respond to local needs. Through carrying these tests at certain smaller stores this autumn, we will see how we can make everyday life easier in busy cities and smaller households, in particular,” says Jarkko Kyttänen, CDO in charge of developing S Group’s online grocery shops.

New instant deliveries are being tested in certain postal code areas in the Helsinki and Tampere regions. The price of an instant delivery is EUR 3.90, with the minimum purchase being EUR 10. Deliveries will be made within an hour of placing an order.

A club membership will be offered to customers living by a pre-defined route. As several deliveries will be made every day along the route, customers can have their groceries delivered to their doorstep many times a day. The price of the membership is EUR 1 per day, or EUR 30 per month, and there will not be any separate delivery charge or minimum limit for orders.

Testing the new services started at selected Alepa stores in Helsinki and Espoo in October.

“Our customers are also showing a demand for faster deliveries than what conventional online grocery shops can offer. At the same time, we are testing a fixed-price delivery package. Customers can order products from the entire broad range of Alepa stores, while accumulating Bonus from their orders,” says Jukka Ranua, development director at HOK-Elanto.

Pirkanmaan Osuuskauppa is also eagerly awaiting its tests that will start at selected Sale stores in November.

“In online grocery shopping, the club membership is something completely new in Finland. We are excited about testing our new services not only in the Helsinki region, but also in Tampere. We will announce more news of the regions selected for the tests at the beginning of November at the latest,” says Iida Dimov, development manager for online grocery shopping at Pirkanmaan Osuuskauppa.

Online grocery shopping is growing and developing

The coronavirus pandemic increased the popularity of online grocery shop services throughout Finland. S Group responded to the growing demand by increasing its capacity and accelerating its existing development projects for online grocery shopping. The pace will only get faster in the next few years.

“We are driven to develop all aspects of online shopping. In addition to expanding our network and testing new operating models, we are currently updating our online shop. We will slowly discontinue the Foodie.fi service. The new and already opened S-kaupat.fi service will bring all S Group’s online grocery shops and services together in one place. At the end of the year, we will already have more than 200 locations. We are also planning automated collection stations to be installed at larger stores in bigger cities,” says Jarkko Kyttänen.

These changes support S Group’s goal of being the market leader in online grocery shopping in Finland.

For further information, please contact:

Jarkko Kyttänen, SOK, CDO, Retail eCommerce, tel. +358 107681047

Sampo Päällysaho, SVP Groceries, SOK, tel. +358 107680665