In meiner finnischen Lektion habe ich kürzlich etwas über die beiden verschiedenen Supermarktketten gelernt. Und dass traditionell es eine gewisse Unterscheidung zwischen ihnen gab, wenn auch heutzutage nicht so sehr, zumal es jetzt andere Konkurrenten der Lebensmittelkette in Finnland gibt. Es wurde erwähnt, dass einige Familien traditionell nur auf einem K- oder S -Markt eingekauft wurden. Ich finde das faszinierend und hoffte, weitere Details zu hören, und finnische Perspektiven darüber sind (oder waren) alles.
https://i.redd.it/ji33ik5xy6nf1.jpeg
Von Powerful-Chicken-235
25 Kommentare
K has better selection and S has slightly cheaper prices on average.
Back in the days we had K-Market, S-Market and Siwa in our small home town. My granddad only went so Siwa, my uncle to Siwa and S-Market and my parents and I (we live abroad in Germany) always supported S-Market. Nowadays there is only one big S-Market left, but back in the days it had some religious beliefs whether you would shop there or there.
Due to the exponential bonus system, it’s is economically wise to only use one of them. Finns also prefer routine above experiences, so once you pick your favorite store, changing it would be such a hassle.
K has often sales and also sales that lasts weeks. S is overall little bit cheaper.
Excuse me? Virtually all competitors are gone, with Lidl being the notable exception.
Back in the 1990s and even the early 2000s we had many grocery store chains operating both locally and nationwide.
K is more expensive, so its customer base is slightly wealthier than that of the S Group.
I prefer S Markets myself
Generally S Markets are cheaper at a base then the K counterparts, tho as mentioned here by someone else the K might have a better selection. And K markets have more and bigger sales too. Tho i think the S market bonus system is better.
The S-chain is a [consumer cooperative](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Consumer_cooperative) while K is privately owned, which may explain the traditional class distinction.
smarket is somewhat cheaper k market got better catalog i use s market because its closest to me
We shop at S-Market/Prisma mainly bc we are customers of S-Pankki and get nice bonuses for shopping there. Our monthly “cash” return from grocery shopping usually pays our electricity bill.
K is right wing, S is left wing. Since 1918 shops, newspapers, sporting clubs, literally everything was divided.
K bonus card is free, S bonus card costs an annual fee but the price depends on the region. In my S region I couldn’t even cover the annual fee with bonuses with a one person household so I closed my membership and now I shop exclusively at K. My town has Lidl but they’re all outside the city center and inconvenient if you don’t have a car.
My mother worked for S group for decades, she’s now retired but still gets insane discounts as a former employee.
The S Group’s stores operate on a cooperative principle. This means that the owners are also the customers, called customer-owners. To become one, you need to get an S Card, which requires paying a €100 share fee. That payment makes you a part-owner of the cooperative.
The S Group has a stronger presence in rural areas, and because of its cooperative nature, it has traditionally been more popular there. Today, it’s also mainly the regional cooperatives that pay interest on this membership fee. For example, in Helsinki (HOK-Elanto) you don’t get interest, only customer bonuses, because profits are directed to building new stores.
By contrast, the K Group, run by Kesko, is a regular joint-stock company, not a cooperative. Historically, Kesko was founded in 1940 by independent retailers who wanted to strengthen their position against the cooperatives. Their loyalty card, Plussa card, doesn’t cost anything.
There used to be another cooperative, E-group, which had strong ties to the social democratic labour movement whereas S-group was more linked to agrarian/centrist side of politics.
I normally go to S-Market/Prisms due to the bonus with S-Pankki. Otherwise I would just go to Lidl 🥲.
I do most of my shopping in S, some specials from K. Except when up north, then it’s S all the way. Up there you really see the difference in prices.
Wise monkey sits in a tree when S and K tigers fight, while grabbing bargains from teuton.
Left/right distinction doesn’t really exist anymore, since Elanto co-op ceased to exist
There is an incentive to shop exclusively in one, as the monthly spend accumulate for money and you have booster thresholds (usable in K only and anywhere with S but it doesn’t really matter)
I am a member of S but shop mostly in K, the price difference might be slightly in S favor, but it really depends what you shop. I like the discount system and quantity, and easiness to apply of Knmore than S, as it is automatic vs showing the app.
And then of course proximity convenience, even so in many places they are in front of each others.
I prefer S, but K tends to have better beer selection and meat counters so I visit them occasionally.
For me it’s Lidl first, then S, then K. Though, the K-Citymarket in my town is really shitty so that’s partially why. I’ve seen amazing Citymarkets in big cities. In mine, Prisma is the biggest and neatest.
They all have unique things and strengths to them. But 90% of the time I just go to Lidl.
Lidl is always my first choice. Stuff I can’t find from there, I go grab from Prisma usually.
There isn’t really a class divide between S and K. It was between S and another group called E which doesn’t exist anymore.
At the beginning of the 1900s the consumer cooperatives in Finland formed a their own central cooperative to buy products in larger batches and provide all kinds of support activities to the individual consumer cooperatives. That cooperative was SOK which nowadays forms the backbone of S group.
In 1916 some cooperatives separated and formed their own central organization. They called themselves progressive and mostly served working class. The largest of those cooperatives was Elanto in Helsinki and thus the entire group was called E group.
SOK and its individual cooperatives served mostly farmers, middle class and other non-socialist people.
In the following decades a lot happened. Both groups had a lot of their own industry and by the 70s SOK was the largest industrial producer in Finland. In the 80s both groups were in lots of financial trouble though and downscaled their industry. Long story short S group survived and E group didn’t. Elanto of Helsinki became part of S group in 2003 and Siwa stores were the last remnants of E group and they were bought by Kesko (K group) in 2015.
I (almost) always use s-groups shops, because it’s the cheaper. Prisma being the cheapest/best selection. Also we have s-card which gives us some money back every month. It’s usually around 20-25€/month but it’s better than with K-group. Sometimes there might be a good deal on something (e.g. 3 ben&jerrys 10€) in k-groups stores and then I go there, but it’s so rarely, not even every month that I go there.
Sometimes you can get a whole ass salmon for 10 e/kg at some of the k fish counters. Or at least you could when I was still in Finland. I made so much gravlax.
S market all the way
I use K as its closest
Lippulaiva mainittu.