JYSK seeks growth by launching its new city concept in Finland
The first Finnish store under JYSK’s city concept opened its doors at the Forum shopping centre in late August. JYSK is opening concept stores in prime locations to target new customer segments and pursue significant growth in sales.
JYSK Country Manager Ville Velin believes the city concept targeted at new customer segments will be a shot in the arm for the Danish brand. JYSK’s previous offering, located along ring roads, has not been effective in reaching carless millennials and other urban consumers in Finland’s capital.
“The city concept gives us exposure to customer groups that have proved difficult to reach through advertising and our traditional retail network.”
“The city concept brings JYSK to locations with strong customer flows, places that consumers naturally gravitate towards. It gives us exposure to potential customer groups that have proved difficult to reach through advertising and our traditional retail network. I’m confident that our presence in the city centre will also have a positive impact on our online sales as well as the sales of our other stores in the Helsinki metropolitan area,” Velin says.
First location chosen based on strict criteria
The city concept store that recently opened its doors in Forum is the first of its kind in Finland and the seventh globally. JYSK has previously opened stores under the same concept in Hungary and Denmark. JYSK applied strict criteria to the selection of its first city concept store location in Finland.
“We set the bar high in choosing the location for the store. As the most established and best-known shopping centre in Helsinki’s central business district, Forum was our first choice by a clear margin. The location of our retail space within the shopping centre was another important consideration. It was also significant that Forum’s values, such as responsibility for employees and customers, are in line with our values,” Velin adds.
Inspiring interior design ideas
The city concept differs from JYSK’s basic concept not only in terms of location, but also in terms of the size and design of the store. While the floor area of a JYSK store is typically over 1,000 m2, the city concept stores are about half that size.
The size of the Forum store, for example, is about 500 m2. The smaller size and cosy interior design make the city concept store more homelike than JYSK’s basic concept.
“We’ve put together a range of interior design ideas using our products. We hope they will provide inspiration and ideas for our customers to come up with their own creative interior design solutions,” Velin explains.
The JYSK city concept selection includes many of the products sold at other JYSK stores, but the product range is slightly narrower. The focus is on products that are particularly appealing to Forum’s customer base.
Interior decoration products and small furniture items can be picked up from the store at the time of purchase. Larger pieces of furniture, such as beds and sofas, are mostly delivered to customers’ homes from other stores within 1–2 days of purchase.
Many customers come to Forum by foot, bicycle or public transport. Those with a long shopping list of interior design products can also bring a car, with the JYSK store located on Level 0 providing convenient access to the P-CityForum car park.
Forum’s customers are increasingly interested in interior design
According to Forum’s Shopping Centre Manager Katja Hatakka, the JYSK city concept is an excellent addition to the shopping centre’s offering of interior design products and household goods. Forum’s existing stores in this category include Pentik, Granit, Finlayson, Indiska and Seven Art, among others.
“Our interior design and household goods category has grown by eight per cent since the start of the year. We expect that growth rate to increase further now that JYSK has opened its new store here. Many of our customers have told us they’re happy to have the chance to shop at JYSK in the city centre,” Hatakka says.
Hatakka has noticed that interest in interior design is increasing rapidly in all of Forum’s key target groups. The desire to decorate one’s home or workspace is not dependent on the customer’s age or gender.
Published 12.9.2018