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| In December 1998, a new chain was formed when Osuuskauppa Ympäristö opened the first ABC service station shop in Utti. |
The 1980s werea time of structural change in S Group. In 1983, as a result of the reorganisation led by SOK's CEO at the time, Juhani Pesonen, SOK gave up its own industry and the current network of regional cooperatives was established. The regional cooperatives together with SOK Corporation form the united S Group of today.
Read more about the turning point in 1983.
Focusing on the core competence areas in the 1980s led the whole Group into profitability in the time frame of a few years.Arriving at the 1990s, the business idea of S Group – production of services and benefits to committed members – formed the starting point for business planning.
Strategic choices and changes in consumers
The development of the current co-op member programme began at the end of the 1980s, when the first cooperatives (Osuuskauppa PeeÄssä, Keskimaa Osk, Osuuskauppa KPO and Turun Osuuskauppa) launched the Bonus system. Bonus became nationwide in 1994, covering all business areas and regional cooperatives.
In the early 1990s, cost efficiency was further improved by modern chain activities, at the core ofwhich is, for example,centralised procurement.In 1991, the procurement and logistics company Inex Partners began operations and took over the procurement, storage and distribution of the groceries of S Group and Tradeka.The operations of Inex were chain-oriented,and the companysupplied goods to all retail chains within S Group: Prisma, S-market, Citysokos, Alepa and Sale.
S Group supplements its business through partnerships. The first national Bonus partner was Hassen Matkat in 1997.
In the 1990s, S Group took its first steps abroad when SOK opened Citysokos in Tallinn in 1995.