Evolving customer needs guide HalpaHalli’s continuous development
HALPAHALLI IS a 50-year-old family businessin the retail sector. From a small shop foundedin Kokkola, the company has grown into a chain store with 1,500 employees while many other wellknown retail brands have not survived.
“The retail trade is going through a historical shift. Customer needs and behaviour are changing, highlighting the multiple channels available. In addition to that, we have to be more and more efficient”, says Kokkolan HalpaHalli Oy’s CEO Janne Ylinen.
HalpaHalli is seeking efficiency above all with a new kind of order and supply chain. This means, for example, that many factors that are vital for smooth logistics are taken into account right from the start of the chain at the company’s Asian office.
RESPONSIBILITY and sustainable development are also highlighted in HalpaHalli’s operations. The company is investing in eco-friendly solar power by installing solar panels in each of its new stores. Its largest individual solar power system, withan output of 397 kilowatts, generates energy at HalpaHalli’s logistics centre in Kokkola.
Energyefficient stores are an essential part of sustainable trade. In its newest stores, for example, ventilation heat recovery is utilised in underfloor heatingand, in the summer, geothermal cooling keeps the stores comfortable. Refrigerated cabinets and boxes with doors and hatches improve energy efficiency, and all new refrigerated equipment uses natural carbon dioxide to be as eco-friendly as possible.
CUSTOMERS have fully accepted HalpaHalli’s brand reform. According to Janne Ylinen, the positive effects of the reform can also be measuredin euros, as the company achieved their best ever revenue with fewer stores in the previous accounting period. The online shop, launched slightly before the brand reform, also had a good start.
“HalpaHalli has a great deal of customer potential, especially in the Helsinki region and other larger population centres. Our sales development also shows that we have managed to win overour online store customers too. HalpaHalli is a people-oriented store that aims to make families’ busy day-to-day lives easier. It feels good to see consumers appreciate our extensive product range that covers everything you need in your everyday life”, Janne Ylinen says.
