MAPIC: Tell us a little about Sostrene Grene
Mikkel Grene: Sostrene Grene is a Danish retail chain offering a wide assortment within home interiors, furniture, hobby items, kitchen supplies, children’s toys, specialty food and candy, gift-wrapping, party supplies and more.
Many of the products we design ourselves with inspiration from our Nordic origins. We believe that aesthetics is key, and we are therefore always mindful of the importance of choice of materials and colours. We believe that great finds depend on a combination of aesthetics, quality, and price. Therefore, our products never cost more than they must.
We have 280 stores across 16 European markets. Our largest market is Germany followed by Denmark, Norway, and France. We have stores across the UK and Ireland as well as the Nordic countries and Belgium, Austria, and Switzerland.
Inside a Sostrene Grene store
MAPIC: What are your plans for the next 12 months?
Mikkel Grene: For a few years now we have focused very much on expanding in Germany and the UK. These are two different markets but what they have in common is a very high potential for us to grow. We are planning to have 50 stores across the UK by the end of this year – three years ago we had only five stores in the UK.
For Germany, the plan is to have 100 stores within the next two to three years, which will make Germany our first market to hit this milestone
We launched our first online store in Denmark in 2020, and last year we succeeded in rapid expansion of our online business by launching online stores in 14 of our 16 markets.
Mikkel Grene / Søstrene Grene
MAPIC: What are your main objectives for the year?
Mikkel Grene: We are taking on several large and necessary investments, which will help put us in a strong position to realise our ambitious strategy when it comes to growth, digitalisation, ESG etc. We have some very good opportunities for scaling and developing our business, so we can reach a turnover of €670 million including VAT in just three years.
At the same time, we bear a significant responsibility for minimising the carbon footprint stemming from our operations and ESG is also top of our agenda. We are therefore diligently progressing step by step towards creating a product range with the least possible climate impact. Among other initiatives, we are working to ensure that a greater number of our products obtain independent and recognised certifications.
Written by : Mark Faithfull
