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Location: Itäkeskus, Helsinki
Retailer couple: Mika and Anne Timonen
Store category: K-citymarket
Social media: K-citymarket Itäkeskus frequently publishes special offers and topical information on seasonal products, for instance, on Facebook. The store is also on Instagram and Twitter.

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Retailer couple adds their personal touch to the store

Retailers Mika and Anne Timonen like to work at the store among customers as much as possible. You may see Mika washing the floor, arranging shelves or talking to customers. The position of a retailer involves a wide range of duties, all of which Timonen performs from time to time and always with full effort.

'I have a fine floor washer in the store; I'm a little annoyed not having enough time to drive it,' says the cheerful and talkative retailer. 'A retailer's job consists of so many things, but I prefer busying myself among customers so that they find it easy to approach me and I hear how they feel about the store and so on.'

The retailer couple say that in addition to retailing, their daily work consists of many duties, such as cleaning and, say, plumbing - there is something of this type to do nearly every day.

'This summer, we have seen customers a lot - one reason is the start of the renovation at Itäkeskus, which has some impact on our store,' they say. 'Some of our customers have been shopping here for decades and they are naturally interested in the future of this store.'

In addition to the store, much of the couple's daily life is devoted to their two school-age daughters. The leisure activity that is closest to their hearts is riding and the family also owns a Finnish breed horse.

Itäkeskus is a store site with opportunities

The clientele of K-citymarket Itäkeskus is colourful. Customers from surrounding areas represent many different cultures, which fact has also been taken into account when choosing staff - the store provides service in 14 languages and many dialects. Customers are constantly giving thanks for this. In the ever more competitive situation this is absolutely an asset, which is reflected in the annual number of customer visits, totalling more than 2 million.

'We have made a conscious decision on this issue, because we are well aware that we serve many customer groups,' Mika and Anne say. 'And this has clearly paid off.'

Itäkeskus is a challenging location, but the retailer sees this as an opportunity for constant development. Mika says that retailing is not a sprint but rather a marathon - every day you have to learn something new and make improvements, which in turn lead to positive changes.

'We have familiarised ourselves with new cultures to be able to provide our customers with the best possible shopping experience. Understanding cultures also gives us knowledge about communications between different cultures. At the same time, we learn about traditional foods and cooking and are able to offer our customers the products and ingredients they require,' the retailer says about the background and development of their multi-cultural approach.

'How has the summer been for your store?'

The question makes the retailer look out of the window of his office and, after a while, talk about strawberries, blueberries, fishes and the culture.

'This summer has been exceptional, I have to admit. The strawberry harvest was late and the cool weather influenced customers' shopping behaviour. Or, to be correct their behaviour did not change from the spring at all. Various beverages sold just like in the spring and consumers eat heavier foods than last summer, for instance, when it was much warmer,' say the retailer couple.

The hot summer weather is reflected in people's shopping behaviour. The higher the temperature, the higher is the demand for cold beverages and light foods, and fresh fruit are frequently bought as impulse purchases. This summer has not tempted people to go on picnics like the previous one, which is also reflected in the sale of picnic foods.

Some impacts are the opposite: the fish trade, for example, has thrived through the summer. The highly commended fish counter of K-citymarket Itäkeskus is filled with fresh and tasty fish, many species to cater for all needs! The multi-cultural clientele also has a strong impact on this as they buy a lot of fish.

New Itäkeskus - what is the impact on K-citymarket?

The store renovation that started at Easter has been completed and the current premises will be in use for the following two years. Though the store area is a little smaller, the number of products has not decreased. In the neighbourhood store of right size, shopping is easy and fast.

The new Itäkeskus shopping centre will also result in changes to K-citymarket. The new hypermarket will be an inspiring food store which will highlight both international and multi-cultural aspects, both high quality and innovation. The retailer's aim is to be able to compete both with the price and the quality on the Finnish market.

'For us, it is and will be important to provide easy shopping, superior customer experience and the store that is of right size for customers,' sums up the retailer couple.

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