SOK has signed a partnership agreement with the French retail chain Carrefour. The other Nordic cooperatives – Coop Norway, Coop Sweden and Coop Denmark – will also participate in the new partnership. 

“Carrefour is one of the largest retailers in the world. This says everything we need to know about how we will benefit from the partnership. Even though S Group is considered to be a big player in Finland, we are small on a global scale. For Finns, the new partnership means more affordable private-label products as well as completely new products,” says Arttu Laine, SOK’s Executive Vice President.

The partnership covers the international sourcing of private labels. Based on the agreement, S Group can participate in buying Carrefour’s French, Italian and Spanish food and non-food private labels. In addition, the collaboration makes private-label manufacturing more efficient. 

“There are two simultaneous, strong trends in consumption. On one hand, we are developing our selection of domestic and local food, while on the other hand, customers also want to enjoy global products affordably. These development directions exist simultaneously, and we want to respond to both of them,” Laine says.

S Group’s own private labels are Kotimaista, Rainbow and Xtra. 

“The Kotimaista product line is a Finnish favourite, and we will continue developing it. The new partnership will bring new products and more affordable prices, particularly to the Rainbow product line. New products will start showing up on the shelves at the end of this year.”