S Group

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


Wikimedia Foundation. 2010.

Игры ⚽ Нужна курсовая?

Look at other dictionaries:

  • Group theory — is a mathematical discipline, the part of abstract algebra that studies the algebraic structures known as groups. The development of group theory sprang from three main sources: number theory, theory of algebraic equations, and geometry. The… …   Wikipedia

  • Group psychotherapy — is a form of psychotherapy in which one or more therapists treat a small group of clients together as a group. The term can legitimately refer to any form of psychotherapy when delivered in a group format, including Cognitive behavioural therapy… …   Wikipedia

  • Group dynamics — is the study of groups, and also a general term for group processes. Relevant to the fields of psychology, sociology, and communication studies, a group is two or more individuals who are connected to each other by social relationships. [Forsyth …   Wikipedia

  • Group of death — is an informal sobriquet used in football and other team sports to describe a situation that often occurs during the group stage of a tournament (such as the first round of the World Cup), where:* all the teams present in one group are considered …   Wikipedia

  • Group buying — Group buying, also known as collective buying, offers products and services at significantly reduced prices on the condition that a minimum number of buyers would make the purchase. Origins of group buying can be traced to China[citation needed]… …   Wikipedia

  • group — [gruːp] noun [countable] 1. also group of companies ORGANIZATIONS a large business organization that consists of several companies that all have the same owner: • Burmah Castrol, the lubricants group • the sale of the Rover Group to BMW …   Financial and business terms

  • Group — can refer to: Sociology * Group action (sociology) * Group behaviour * Groups of people, a description of various different human groups ** Peer group ** Workgroup * Group dynamics * Group (sociology), a sub set of a culture or of a society *… …   Wikipedia

  • Group f/64 — was a group of famous San Francisco photographers who espoused a common philosophy and photographic style. The group was created in 1932, and it is usually listed as including: * Ansel Adams+ * Imogen Cunningham+ * John Paul Edwards+ * Consuelo… …   Wikipedia

  • Gröûp X — (also known as Gröûp X: Arabian Rap Sensations) is a faux Arabian rock band, claiming to be from the fictional village of Cramshananteen, Saudi Arabia. They play a mix of rap and rock. They are known for using comically accented and mangled… …   Wikipedia

  • Group polarization — is the tendency of people to make decisions that are more extreme when they are in a group as opposed to a decision made alone or independently. Overview Study of this effect has shown that after participating in a discussion group, members tend… …   Wikipedia

  • Group marriage — Group marriage, also known as multi lateral marriage, is a form of polyamory in which more than two persons form a family unit, with all the members of the group marriage being considered to be married to all the other members of the group… …   Wikipedia

Share the article and excerpts

Direct link
Do a right-click on the link above
and select “Copy Link”