Store tour - Ruohonjuuri
by Niklas Salminen
The Finnish health and vitamin chain Ruohonjuuri recently opened a new flagship store representing their latest concept in central Helsinki. Ruohonjuuri has done a great work in recents years in turning a rather niche category into a mainstream retail operation. The company was founded in 1982 with the idea of doing business as sustainably as possible.
Ruohonjuuri has been growing fast during recent years. From 2017 the sales have grown from 22,5 million euros to 32,1 million in 2020. The profits have grown at the same time from 0,9 million to 1,2 million euros.
Store tour
The store is located in a street with heavy foot traffic due to its location close to the Helsinki central railway station.
The store is light, spacious and signs tell clearly the locations of products.
Ruohonjuuri’s assortment consists of health and supplements products added by superfoods, food to go and natural cosmetics.
The closest comparison to Ruohonjuuri would probably be Holland and Barrett, a UK-based health-chain operating in 16 different countries with over 1300 stores. Notable is that Holland and Barrett is Russian owned.
The store is divided into two sections. When entering the store first one sees all the vitamin and supplements products. On the back of the store is a large area focused only on natural cosmetics.
With products like the ones Ruohonjuuri sells, customer communication is essential. Ruohonjuuri has done a good job with this by explaining customers about the products and their features.
The products in the best sales spots have price information clearly communicated and other information to help the customer to make the purchase decision.
Products are placed in a way that the customer first sees the ones that brings maximum profit for the store. For example nuts and snacks are easy to find. The category also has some Private Label products to improve the profitability. This underlines the importance of the nut & snack category for the overall profitability for Ruohonjuuri.
Additionally nuts are a good product for Ruohonjuuri as they have plenty of health benefits and thus are a natural fit for a retailer like Ruohonjuuri compared to other snacks, such as crisps. Even though crisps and snacks rarely have any health benefits, retailers give a lot of store space for these products, because suppliers of these products have plenty of marketing money to spend.
A nice touch in the store design is a “hang out area”, which is located close to the entrance to the store. There the customer can have a break and browse the store magazine while consuming their snacks. The area is big enough to fit strollers, probably a very smart move considering parents are a good customer segment.
All in all the new Ruohonjuuri store concept is unique concept and differentiates the retailer from its competitors.
The store is huge compared to other retailers in the sector. It is a bold move to open a store in the heart of Helsinki where many retailers have pulled back and the rents can’t be really high.
The store concept proves that Ruohonjuuri could have potential for international expansion. Against companies like Holland and Barrett they can compete on equal footing.