The S group opened its sales statistics to the media on Thursday.
In SOK’s survey, four out of five said they were picky eaters. Karoliina Vuorenmäki / KL
On Thursday morning, SOK organized a media event where trends and phenomena in the grocery trade were reported.
The tight economic situation is still reflected in consumer behavior. According to an attitude survey commissioned by SOK, 35 percent of consumers always choose the cheapest option when buying food. Their share has increased by 8 percentage points since 2021.
However, for some product groups, recovery is already noticeable.
For example, the sales of fish products, which have been declining for several years, have now turned to rise, S group’s grocery store sales director Hans Backström said at the event.
The sale of fresh rainbow trout has been especially wild, growing by 30 percent in a year. Sushi sales also continued to grow.
The sales of many delicacies increased from last year. Sales in the largest delicacy product category, sweets, however, remained unchanged.
The S group hopes that transport robots could soon deliver wine to the home.
The broiler sells
82 percent of the respondents to SOK’s survey say they are picky eaters. 71 percent say they regularly eat meat and 82 percent of them regularly eat red meat.
Based on S Group’s sales data, Finns like chicken and minced meat the most. Their combined share of the meat sold by the S group was 79 percent.
– Broiler is growing at a fast pace and is taking a share of red meat, sales director Backström said at the event.
S Group’s goal is that by the end of 2030, 65 percent of all the food they sell will be plant-based. The share in 2023 was 60 percent.
Based on sales data, milk is still Finns’ favorite drink. However, its sales have decreased by 6 percent since 2019. In the same period, sales of plant-based drinks increased by 52 percent.
Sales of energy and sports drinks grew by as much as 93 percent in five years.
Wine with robot transport
The representatives of the S group spoke at the media conference on several occasions in favor of the liberalization of alcohol legislation.
Sales director Backström sent his greetings in the direction of Orpo’s board.
– We hope that the government will promote the liberalization of online alcohol sales and that stronger wines will be released for sale, Backström said.
At the end of the event, S Group’s grocery store manager Sampo Top saw separately added a wish for home delivery of alcohol.
– We hope that the robots could also take that bottle of wine to the customer, Päällysaho said.
Correction November 28, 2024 at 4:46 p.m.: The article previously incorrectly stated that 53 percent of consumers choose always the cheapest option when buying food. The correct number is 35.