Exploiting foresight in the food supplement and health food sector: a FIBRES case study

FIBRES has transformed the way the Finnish Health Product Retailers Association approaches foresight, allowing them to create a clearer vision of the future and provide actionable insights to their member companies. From fragmented data to structured foresight, FIBRES has become an essential tool in their strategic arsenal.
Key takeaways
- Structured foresight: The Finnish Health Product Retailers Association streamlined its fragmented data collection and trend monitoring into a cohesive, structured foresight process using FIBRES.
- Faster insights: With FIBRES’ AI-driven capabilities, Mika Rönkkö could quickly gather and analyze trends, saving time and offering near real-time insights for decision-making.
- Actionable trend reporting: FIBRES empowered The Finnish Health Product Retailers Association to provide its member companies with valuable, data-driven foresight reports, helping them stay ahead of market shifts.
Foresight as a strategic tool in the health product industry
The Finnish Health Product Retailers Association, under the leadership of Mika Rönkkö, has been using FIBRES to navigate and anticipate changes in the health product sector. With a vast amount of information coming from diverse sources – domestic and international news services, media, regulatory bodies, and in-house content – the challenge for Mika was to organize and make sense of these data points.
Mika describes FIBRES as the solution for this task: “I use FIBRES both as a foresight tool for the future and for mapping current phenomena in the health product industry. It has also become an excellent way to understand the bigger picture and the relationships between different trends and forces.”
For the Finnish Health Product Retailers Association, FIBRES is not just a tool for signal monitoring but also a key platform for integrating various sources of market and research data into their strategic vision. By consolidating this information into one place, they have transformed their fragmented market intelligence efforts into a structured, continuous foresight process.
"With FIBRES, I can now gather and analyze information from dozens of sources in minutes, something that used to take hours. This near real-time insight has been invaluable for making informed, strategic decisions in our rapidly evolving industry."
Mika Rönkkö, Executive Manager, Finnish Health Product Retailers Association
From siloed information to strategic insight
Before adopting FIBRES, Mika faced the same common problem that many foresight professionals deal with: scattered, siloed information. There was no unified way to track, monitor, or even visualize the various trends and signals shaping the health product industry.
FIBRES brought structure and clarity to their long-term planning: “FIBRES has made long-term planning clearer and added structure to our foresight process. Before, there wasn’t such a systematic or easy way to manage future insights.”
The platform’s Radar and Network views have been crucial in making sense of industry trends, and the summaries and visual tools have enhanced how they share insights within the organization.
A central repository for foresight data unlocks the powers of AI
Mika has seen a significant shift in how foresight data is gathered and visualized since using FIBRES:
“With FIBRES, foresight data is easier to collect and visualize. Previously, managing this information was fragmented and almost manual. Now, FIBRES provides a centralized platform across industry actors, and all the data is in one place.”
This centralized approach allows Mika to continuously feed information into the platform, updating trends and themes as they evolve. A specific example he shared was when he used FIBRES to explore new innovations in animal products. Within minutes, FIBRES’ AI capabilities pulled together information that would have taken him hours to gather manually, giving him a comprehensive view of the market for pet supplements and related products.
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Turning trends into tangible insights for driving change
Through FIBRES, Mika has been able to offer new, concrete insights to member companies of the Finnish Health Product Retailers Association. By tracking and organizing industry trends – like the development of specific vitamins or broader health market trends – Mika’s team can provide valuable foresight reports that highlight emerging themes. This allows member companies to anticipate changes and act on opportunities in a timely manner.
“For example, I created a trend tracking system for dietary supplements in FIBRES, which allows us to deliver real-world insights into global trends and emerging themes related to our industry.”
"FIBRES has completely transformed how we manage foresight. Before, our data was scattered and hard to track, but now we have a centralized platform that makes it easy to monitor trends and visualize industry changes."
Mika Rönkkö, Executive Manager, Finnish Health Product Retailers Association
Inspiring collective foresight within the sector
Mika’s future plans include giving member companies direct access to the foresight data he has built using FIBRES. He believes this will inspire companies to take a more active role in understanding and shaping the forces driving change in the health product sector:
“The next step is to offer our member companies access to the industry foresight radar we’ve built with FIBRES. I’m confident that the insights FIBRES generates will encourage companies to participate in the process, ensuring we capture perspectives from as many angles as possible.”
Mika’s organization is also an apt example of harnessing the power of collaborative foresight across organization boarders. The Finnish Health Product Retailers’ Association shares the same FIBRES environment with its mother organization, The Federation of Finnish Special Commodity Trade ETU. This allows both organizations to build on each other’s insights, while also giving each the needed space to work on their own topics and interests.
Why FIBRES? Merging multiple data sources into one truth
When asked about the best part of FIBRES, Mika is quick to highlight the platform’s ability to merge multiple data sources into one cohesive system:
“The best thing about FIBRES is its ability to combine various sources into one clear overview. It provides near real-time information to support decision-making or to get a better grasp of the trends I’m following.”
Mika also appreciates FIBRES’ flexibility, allowing him to add his own material, making the content more relevant to the specific needs of the Finnish Health Product Retailers Association and its member companies.
Finally, Mika recommends FIBRES to any organization needing help with trend tracking and foresight:
“I would recommend FIBRES to anyone who needs help with anticipating trends and future changes, particularly companies needing support in strategic planning to stay on top of evolving markets and spot opportunities early.”
Conclusion
By adopting FIBRES, the Finnish Health Product Retailers Association has streamlined its foresight process, moving from scattered data to a clear, structured approach that supports long-term strategic planning.
Mika Rönkkö and his team now have the tools to anticipate industry trends, make informed decisions, and provide their member companies with actionable insights that will help them stay ahead in a rapidly changing market.
FIBRES has become an indispensable part of their strategic foresight, helping them visualize complex trends, track market shifts, and continuously refine their understanding of the health product industry.
As Mika notes, the ease of use, combined with the platform’s powerful AI capabilities, has transformed the way they work, giving them the edge needed to remain competitive and innovative.
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Milla Lappalainen is head of marketing at FIBRES. She's excited to learn foresight best practices from the top organizations in the world already running their own foresight workflows and to share those learnings with others.
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