S Group

With more than 14 billion euros in annual revenue and 42,000 employees, S Group is network of companies in the retail and service sectors, with approximately 2,000 outlets in Finland. Historically, the business has functioned primarily through physical stores, with e-commerce playing only a minor role. When COVID-19 triggered a surge in demand for grocery deliveries, S Group embraced a more tech-driven approach to its operations. With Reaktor as its technology and design partner, S Group has transformed into an example of what large-scale, tech-driven retail can look like. S Group's e-commerce business has grown significantly in three years, and the company has a new suite of data-driven tools that allows it to move fast and compete in an increasingly complex retail industry.

S Group's history as a cooperative is deeply reflected in its culture. It's a customer-owned Finnish network of companies in the retail and service sectors, with approximately 2,000 outlets. It offers services in the supermarket trade, the department store and speciality store trade, the service station store and fuel sales and the travel industry and hospitality business. In addition, some of its cooperatives have car dealerships and hardware stores in their regions. In addition, it provides all of its co-op members with comprehensive banking services through S-Bank.

Because of this diversity, building digital capabilities on a cross-organizational level has been an understandable challenge for S Group.

S Group's and Reaktor's joint journey began with grocery e-commerce. The way the trade group is structured means that most things under development have both organizational and architectural dependencies. This becomes somewhat of a challenge when trying to meet business requirements using off-the-shelf products and existing legacy systems. The number of constant alterations needed to support their systems was too many to make sense, and vendor lock-ins didn’t allow the needed flexibility. To use their tools, S Group had to keep changing their processes – a practice that is never optimal; tools should serve humans, not the other way around.

S Group began figuring out how they could create custom solutions to serve their ideal processes and make progress on their digital transformation journey. Rather than starting with complex, cross-organizational solutions with more dependencies, S Group wanted to build effective, single-point solutions. The partnership kicked off with that in mind. From these first wins, our partnership has extended into different areas, with S Group quickly growing into Reaktor’s largest client.

Reaktor now has around 50 senior engineers and designers at S Group. Together, we’ve built multiple projects, from e-commerce to a shelving solution and a workshop planning tool. The company has undergone a significant transformation not just in terms of new digital services, but in ways of working as well.

A custom picking solution

Picking deliveries has historically been a time-consuming feat, with limitations such as it needing to happen outside of opening hours. With picking, it was essential to optimize and automate the process as much as possible. Directions, such as which way to walk and how to find the right product immediately, have an impact on how comfortably store teams can work. When employees have necessary information at hand and clear instructions, picking becomes easier: people are happier and more efficient, and in addition, costs are saved.

The shift from an off-the-shelf solution to a fully custom one was developed based on Reaktor's experts studying the workflows of the store teams. This was the first example of how Reaktor could deliver functioning solutions in the trade group's context. The picking solution was a catalyst for following projects, proving that bringing in new working methods to the organization could influence impactful technical solutions.

In the words of Kirsi Saarikko, Vice President, IT and Digital Development, S Group:

"We're adapting to increasing digital demands and shifting towards market-oriented value creation. In this journey, we've found Reaktor's culture and expertise — especially their strong, agile teamwork — to be a good fit for our needs. Reaktor stands out as a flexible and respectful partner, aiding not just in delivering results but also in facilitating the desired change. Their approach puts people first, effectively managing change with minimal disruption to our staff."

Metso – A work shift planning tool

We built a work shift planning tool for nearly 1000 of S Group's grocery stores – called Metso. The service pulls data from different sources, such as initially planned shifts, and shows the forecasted work against the initial (human-made) plan. From there, the user can make adjustments and return it to the original planning system. Now, stores manage their resources using a data-driven approach to analyze upcoming work and shift planning. Metso has significantly simplified forecasting by unifying all data sources into one solution.

A key success factor in the project was using customer-oriented and agile development methods. Once the code was written, it was moved into production quickly and put in the hands of real users. This feedback loop allowed us to guide development toward the most needed features while continuously improving the service and development processes.

Metso was the first project involving multiple different divisions of IT. Building out Metso opened more doors into different parts of S Group's organization and created more connection and overlap between Reaktor’s experts and S Group's teams.

"Initially, we were cautious about integrating Reaktor into our core store operations despite their success in more digitally focused areas. When we began collaborating with Metso, there was some initial cultural friction. However, both teams rose to the challenge, fostering open communication and collaboration. The results have been outstanding. Shift planning, a longstanding challenge for us, required a nuanced, custom solution. Thanks to Reaktor’s relentless drive, agile methodology, and customer-centric approach, they met and exceeded our expectations in addressing this complex issue."

– Eddie Jern, Head of In-store solutions, S Group

Tila – A shelving solution

Tila is a shelving tool that helps stores figure out the best use of shelf space. Previously, the stores had been using an old system for shelving. It was hard to use and was run on two very different solutions – one on a desktop and the other on the mobile devices employees used while working between the shelves. Both had steep learning curves, and users needed much knowledge to operate them. 

Tila replaces this old system by taking the existing space calculations and allowing stores to understand the best use of any given shelf space. Tila can also be used during a store renovation. Historically, during a renovation, stores have stopped making orders in the renovated areas due to how complex it would be to calculate shelving space. With Tila, it now takes just five minutes to confirm a mass of these planograms, rather than 1-2 days without automation. Having Tila in place saves costs and employee time and increases overall operational efficiency.

"My first experience with Reaktor has been exceptionally positive. As someone responsible for multiple critical services, I was impressed by their comprehensive approach. Reaktor not only managed the development process but also proactively resolved issues and ensured tangible business impact. Finding a partner who provides such reliability and allows me to rest easy is truly invaluable."

– Mikko Hänninen, IT Area lead, Assortment Planning & Space Management, S Group

With a strong foundation in e-commerce and cutting-edge technology that helps increase operational efficiency from shelf space to shift planning, S Group has become a star example of what digital transformation can look like for a top-tier retail firm – and they’re only getting started.

Today, S Group continues building more digital capabilities across various parts of its organizations.

• Innovation partner improving ways of working
• UX & UI design
• Data Science
• Development of new services