Is Fiskars the most international retailer or brand from Finland?

Fiskars is one of the most international CPG brands coming from Finland. Internationalization has been a hot topic in Finland as few retailers or brands have built successful businesses abroad. Fiskars has for decades been one of the giants in the Finnish retail scene. The company has a number of the most admired brands in the country.

However, much less has been discussed about the very international nature of Fiskars. The company has grown over the last ten years, both organically and through acquisitions. The growth has come in waves, with periods of decline followed by some growth. In the previous three years, Fiskars has grown robustly.

In 2022, the company saw revenues decline slightly. The decline was driven by the Terra business segment as well as the geographical segment of the Americas. In Europe and Asia, the company continued to grow.

The geographical diversification of Fiskars has been an exciting development. The company gets more than 50% of its revenue outside of Europe. Especially the home market share, Finland, is only a small portion of the overall company’s revenues, despite having many important brands in the country.

DTC growth benefiting in the longer term

The other interesting aspect of Fiskars is the high level of direct-to-consumer revenues. In 2022 the company got 21% of all business from direct channels. In the Vita business segment, more than 40% of revenues came directly from consumers. This represents a significant opportunity for Fiskars to expand and improve the business.

In terms of expansion, the direct-to-consumer channel provides efficient opportunities to experiment with new markets and penetrate further into the existing markets. In new market testing, the DTC channel enables testing customer demand without securing wholesale partnerships.

The direct-to-consumer channel also, especially online, gives a lot of data for the further development of product ranges and marketing channels. A third benefit is the added leverage of the company through reduced reliance on the wholesalers. The company is not as reliant on wholesalers as it used to be when the share of direct-to-consumer increases. The direct channel is also supposed to be more profitable.

It is interesting to follow how Fiskars continues its international expansion and the development of the direct channel, primarily online. Finnish retailers and brands have a lot to learn in these areas.