Finlands top retailer welcomes global image initiative

10 Jun 2013

Finland's SOK Corporation, which runs the largest retailer in the country, has welcomed the International Co-operative Alliance's push for a global brand for the sector.

The Finnish network of retail and service co-operatives organised various events throughout the International Year of Co-operatives and sees the new ICA initiative as a step forward in promoting co-operatives.

S Group, which includes SOK Corporation, has over 1.9 million co-op members and more than 1,600 outlets across Finland. The biggest business area of the Group is in the supermarket trade, which has a net turnover over €6.4 billion. SOK is also one of the founder contributors to the Blueprint Fund.

Matti Pikkarainen, the newly elected Chairman of the Supervisory Board of SOK Corporation, which is part of S Group, spoke of the great opportunities and challenges lying ahead. One of them is branding. Referring to developing key messages and a global co-operative image, he said: “I believe in this idea, but there is still a lot to do.”

Mr Pikkarainen explained that people in Finland tend to perceive the S Group as just another successful retailer, rather than as a group of co-operative enterprises. Founded in 1904, the Finnish co-operative group has now 21 co-ops across Finland, and is also operating in Saint Petersburg and some Baltic states.

Mr Pikkarainen said a survey conducted in 2011 showed how people tend to think of the S Group more and more through the benefits they get from the retailer, rather than as a social enterprise with an ethical dimension. He added that the S Group was aiming to engage people in a discussion on social responsibility, introducing them to co-operative principles.

“People don’t know that much in Finland about co-ops. S Group is a big retailer is seen as a business among other businesses; a great challenge for us is to make them aware of what co-operatives are,” he said. “We have to sell them the idea of co-ops by doing business better.”

Although in the Eurozone, Finland has not been as severely affected by the financial crisis as other member states, Matti Pikkarainen said the S Group had coped “rather well” with the crisis, but that it had been affected by it. 

Customers are less inclined to spend money and this had a negative impact on the retail sector. Last year was not a good one for Finish retailers. However, sales in co-ops increased more than the sector’s average.

Mr Pikkarainen said the International Year of Co-operatives had helped to promote co-operatives across Finland. A meeting in Helsinki brought together more than 1,000 co-operators, ministers and other key political players. Local co-operative shops organised events on a smaller scale and a big lorry also went around Finland to advertise the IYC.

"Last year was one step forward but only a starting point,” he concluded. "We have to do more."