KESKO TO TRANSFER ITS B-TO-B OFFERING TO THE INTERNET

Within two years, Kesko’s business-to-business offering will be available on the Internet. Kespro Ltd, which sells groceries to catering customers, will set up the most comprehensive and innovative Internet service of the Finnish food market. Its pilot stage is to be kicked off this autumn. The Industrial and Constructor Sales unit, which serves business customers in the hardware and builders’ supplies sector, will revamp its extranet service to become the primary channel for sales from warehouse. Viljaweb, the leading electronic marketplace of grain trade, was launched last week by Kesko Agriculture.

Kesko has recently opened, and will continue to set up new comprehensive online services. In the coming years, all of Kesko’s four product lines will invest heavily in the online supply offered to both consumers and b-to-b customers. Online trading will be separated from the profit divisions’ other activities and formed into independent units or companies in which personnel and financial investments will be considerably bigger than at present. The most popular online store among Finnish consumers, NetAnttila, will be the first one to be separated in this way and its product and service offer will be complemented. The choice of payment methods will also be extended.

Grocery trade

The pilot stage of grocery wholesale service offered by Kespro Ltd will be launched this autumn in the Jyväskylä area. After Jyväskylä, the service will be made available throughout Finland at a quick pace. Kespro’s new Internet service (www.kespro.com) will provide customers with a new quick ordering channel. At the initial stage, it will serve as a rationalising tool in the wholesale delivery operations of cash-and-carry outlets. Kespro’s customers include restaurants, service stations, kiosks, bakeries, industry and other catering customers.

Home and speciality goods trade

In less than a year, NetAnttila has become the most popular online store among the Finnish consumers. As from October, CD records, DVD movies and PlayStation games ordered from NetAnttila will be delivered directly to customers’ own mailboxes. Delivery time will also be shorter and a registered customer may, with the help of a code number, follow the goods from order to post office. The Top Ten site enables customers to listen and watch extracts of music and movies. Before Christmas, two more payment methods will become acceptable, namely invoicing and installments. NetAnttila has also been awarded the Sampo SafeShop symbol.

Hardware and builders’ supplies trade

An extended version (www.k-yrityspalvelu.com) of the extranet service available for professional customers of the Industrial and Constructor Sales unit will be introduced in October. All Internet users may view the product information of the goods sold from warehouse, but ordering requires a customer code. The extranet site of the Industrial and Constructor Sales unit offers a total of about 4,500 products. The electronic data about products, orders and deliveries are to be connected to customers’ own information systems.

Agricultural and machinery trade

Kesko Agriculture and Machinery has opened a new extranet service at www.k-raitti.com, which provides access, among others, to the leading Finnish online marketplace for grain, the Viljaweb service. In addition to sales contracts and offers, farmers may, for instance, check the value of their grain lot at different reception points. In addition to base price, quality pricing tables registered in Kesko’s grain system may be used in pricing. The offering of trade-in machinery on the Internet has also been reformed by opening the www.vaihtokone.com service, which is aimed to become Finland’s most versatile online supply channel for special machinery (agricultural, heavy duty and recreational machinery).

Additionally, Kesko participates in international electronic marketplace projects. WorldWide Retail Exchange involves a total of over 40 trading companies from different parts of the world. The member companies will start this year online trading in both groceries and non-food products. The exchange aims at a membership of over 100,000 suppliers and partners.

The K-Alliance’s portal addressing consumers is www.k-netti.com, which combines all Internet services offered by the K-Alliance, including NetAnttila. The portal gives access to the new www.pirkka.fi pages, which combine the Pirkka magazine and the Pirkka products on the Internet. At www.plussa.com customers may, for instance, check their Plussa point accounts. Since September, Plussa customers have been granted Plussa points for trips operated by Finland Travel Bureau Ltd. purchased via k-netti.com. The service will be complemented in November when the spring trips come to the market.

Further information from:

Managing Director Ari Virnes, Kespro Ltd, tel. +358 1053 22112
Vice President Matti Laamanen, Home and Speciality Goods Division,
tel. +358 1053 39100
Director Jari Peltonen, Industrial and Constructor Sales, tel. +358 1053 20002,
+358 500 600 116
Development Director Matti Karlsson, Kesko Agriculture and Machinery,
tel. +358 1053 20425