Cooperation between Hämeen Sanomat and Itella takes online stores to Russia

20.08.2014

Media company Hämeen Sanomat and Itella have signed an extensive cooperation agreement on logistics services for the Hämeen Sanomat online store. The Hämeen Sanomat online store is based on a multi-vendor e-commerce model. Intended primarily for women, Bellapuoti.com has more than 200 vendors. The Kalastamo.com fishing store has 55 vendors, and Dreampetstore.com has 45 vendors. These stores offer a total of more than 40,000 products.

The purpose of the cooperation agreement is to boost online sales and create favorable conditions for international cooperation. Near-term goals include expanding e-commerce services to first cover border trade and the St. Petersburg region in Russia and later the entire country, and additionally Norway, Sweden and Estonia.

"Our agreement with Itella provides our more than 300 vendors with better logistics services and facilitates international sales. We can accelerate the development of our online stores and offer better services for consumers," says Mika Sutinen, Sales Director, Hämeen Sanomat.

Itella offers Hämeen Sanomat a service portfolio that meets the needs of the media company's e-commerce model. In addition to logistics services, Itella and its comprehensive partner network offer online vendors help with marketing and segmentation, among other operations.

"Through cooperation, we want to facilitate growth in e-commerce and make Finnish online stores more competitive. Russia is a potential market area for many Finnish online stores," says Aku Happo, Vice President, E-commerce, Itella.