Varuste.net: an interesting company on the rise

Outdoor category has been on the rise during the pandemic, especially online. One company that has been selling outdoor equipment for 15 years already, but is still somewhat unknown to the wider retail audience is Varuste.net.

They are much less known than the bricks and mortar competitors Partioaitta or Scandinavian Outdoors (let alone the giant big boxes XXL and Intersport). Also Varusteleka as a niche specialist has become very well known, because of its marketing prowess over the years.

Despite being less well known, Varuste.net has steadily but surely grown to threaten Partioaitta as the biggest challenger for XXL and Intersport.

During the pandemic 2020 Varuste.net revenues jumped by 46%. If this growth has continued, the company has passed Partioaitta in 2021. The huge potential for Varuste.net is selling internationally.

There is a lot of talk how online can’t be as profitable as the store based retailing. Varuste.net has been able to grow fast and profitably. In 2020 it generated the big sales growth with a robust 9% profit margin.

© Varuste.net

Varuste.net does have one big store in Helsinki. However, online seems to be the big majority of their revenue. After all, for online the revenue potential is almost limitless, whereas for the store, the geography outs quite significant restrictions.

It is fantastic to see such success stories of Finnish retailers going abroad. There is never too many of those!