Svenska Lager is a well-established company in Sweden, providing automotive manufacturers and suppliers with intelligent storage solutions for tyres. These innovative storing systems make industrial stock management safer, more efficient and cheaper. Over the past two years, Svenska Lager’s ergonomic and intelligent installations have been adopted all over Germany and are now used by major tyre brands. We talked to Fredrik Lingeskog, Svenka Lager’s CEO, to learn how a small business can quickly break into a very competitive automotive market.
1. Why did you choose major international brands as your starting point for international expansion?
We had already done some large-scale installations in Sweden for these brands. This worked in our favour when we wanted to enter the German market: our Swedish clients were pleased with our solution and happy to provide good references. After having made our first few successful international installations for different brand dealers, we began to understand the power of word of mouth! Before long, we were working with all sorts of new clients.
2. What was your biggest obstacle to entering this competitive market?
As our products change the way our customers handle their tyres, our first major obstacle was to convince them to change their way of working. The next obstacle was to convince them to invest in improved equipment that has a cost upfront but will mean savings in the long term. Having a critical mass of clients in Sweden who had taken this leap and reaped the benefits provided an important evidence base for us to convince others to do the same.
3. What are your next expansion plans?
We plan to grow further in Germany and from there expand into other markets. We’ll be participating in major international trade shows like Tire Cologne (29 May – 1 June 2018) and Automechanica Frankfurt (11-15 September) which give us an opportunity to showcase what we’ve been doing so far and hopefully will generate more international sales leads.
Svenska Lager has worked with the Enterprise Europe Network partner Almi, in Sweden.
Are you looking for support to innovate and grow internationally? Get in touch with your local Enterprise Europe Network contact point.