S Group

Infobox Company
company_name = S Group
company_
company_type = Cooperative
foundation = 1904
location_city = Helsinki
location_country = Finland
key_people = Arto Hiltunen (Chairman of the board
industry = Retail, Horeca
products = Groceries, hardware, consumer durables, services.
revenue = €10.544 billion (2007, including subsidiaries)
€7.813 billion (2007, excluding subsidiaries) [ [http://www.digipaper.fi/sok-yhtyma/12168/ S-ryhmä ja SOK-yhtymä 2007 - Kansi ] ]
net_income = €58 million (2007, excluding subsidiaries) [ [http://www.digipaper.fi/sok-yhtyma/12168/ S-ryhmä ja SOK-yhtymä 2007 - Kansi ] ]
num_employees= 35,899 (2007) [ [http://www.digipaper.fi/sok-yhtyma/12168/ S-ryhmä ja SOK-yhtymä 2007 - Kansi ] ]
homepage = [http://www.s-kanava.fi/ www.s-kanava.fi]
intl = yes

The S Group (Finnish: "S-ryhmä") is a Finnish retailing cooperative organisation, founded in 1904. It consists of 22 regional cooperatives operating all around Finland in the markets for groceries, consumer durables, service station, hotel and restaurant services, agricultural supplies, and car sales. The full formal name of the nationwide cooperative organisation is "Suomen Osuuskauppojen Keskuskunta" (SOK).

The group has businesses in Finland, Estonia, Latvia, Lithuania and Russia.

The organisation's loyalty card is called "S-Etukortti". It is engaged in close competition with Kesko, with which it shares an oligopolistic position in many of the markets it operates in.

Ownership

A client can invest a small sum on the local co-operative and become a client-owner. (The exact sum is decided by the local co-operative board and varies significantly depending on local conditions.) A client-owner gets a membership card, "S-Etukortti", which functions as a debit or credit card and gives access to special client-owner bargains. For the sums spent in S Group stores, "Bonus" is paid back to the client into the account at S-Bank. The "Bonus" percentage varies from 1% to 5% depending on the sum spent. S-Bank pays an interest that is competetive with interests paid by general banks into savings accounts. "S-Etukortti" is not a regular "loyalty card" as it represents actual monetary investment and the return is formally profit, not discount.

Supermarkets

The S Group operates four distinct chains of supermarkets:
* "Sale" - a chain of small grocery stores, mainly located in the countryside and small towns, with an emphasis on service rather than selection. Sale shops often only provide everyday groceries. There are about 170 Sale shops in Finland.
* "Alepa" - this is the equivalent for "Sale" in the Greater Helsinki region - there are about 70 Alepa shops in the suburbs of Helsinki and the neighbouring cities.
* "S-market" - larger supermarkets with a better selection of goods for sale, and often providing additional services. This is the largest of the S Group's supermarket chains, with nearly 400 shops around Finland.
* "Prisma" - a hypermarket chain with about 50 shops around Finland and the Baltic state, in major cities.

The S Group's supermarkets retail the general private brand "Rainbow", the no-frills "Hyvä Ostos" ('good purchase') and the international "Coop" label.

The S Group has grown significantly in Finland in recent years, growing both organically and by acquisition.

Other fields

The S Group also operates the "Sokos" chain of department stores, "ABC" service stations, the hotel chain "Sokos Hotels", several brands of restaurants such as "Rosso", "Sevilla" and "Amarillo", the "Agrimarket" chain, which sells agricultural and DIY supplies, and a number of car dealerships for Peugeot.

S-Bank

The S Group operates Finlands first so called "supermarket bank", the S-Bank (S-Pankki Oy)

External links

* [http://www.s-kanava.net S-Kanava] - The company portal.

References