EU – Baltic States, Good for Business, Post Office, Retail

Describing the merger of the two online retailers as an important step in the renewal of Hobby Hall which started last year, Hobby Hall manager Pekka Pattiniemi in a press release highlighted a significant expansion of the product offering as a result of the merger, including in the field of gardening important for Finns. He added that customers definitely stand to gain from cooperation between the two e-retailers in technology and developments.

"In terms of our combined turnover, we already rank among the region's e-commerce leaders, yet for us this is only the start, not the finish," Hansapost board member Taavi Rajur said.

Under the merger agreement, Hansapost acquired 46% of Hobby Hall. The Finnish family business SGN Group owns 46% of Hobby Hall and Four P&P Consulting OY, a company of CEO Pekka Pattiniemi, 8%. 

While the merged company will be moving forward as a single entity, the local brands Hobby Hall, Hansapost, and the Latvian brands Xnet and Upstore will be preserved.

The merger will in no way affect the orders already placed, deliveries, and other agreements and contracts.

In Finland e-commerce accounts for 10% of the total turnover of the retail sector, and in Estonia over 3%. The annual rate of increase in e-commerce sales is in excess of 20% in Finland and approximately 40%  in Estonia.  

Founded in 1962, Hobby Hall OY has more than half a million loyal customers. For a long time Hobby Hall was part of the Stockmann group. It was acquired by SGN Grupp in 2017. Hobby Hall employs a workforce of 100 and it posted sales of 43 mln euros for 2017.

Hansapost was founded in 1997 by Hansaprint, the Posti national postal company of Finland, and the telecom company Sonera. The company entered the Latvian market in 1999. The company's sales in 2017 totaled 29 miln euros and it employs 125 people.

Headquartered in Vantaa, in the Helsinki metropolitan area, SGN Grupp is a family company established in 1933 which in addition to Russia is active in Russia and in Sweden. Its annual sales amount to 170 mln euros and workers number 320.