Continuing growth for Clas Ohlson

The story of the company began in the Swedish province of Dalarna more than 80 years ago, when Clas Ohlson of Insjön successfully sold technical manuals through newspaper advertisements. Then he expanded his range with technical products such as fretwork materials and artists’ supplies, model drawings for boat-building and cabinet-making, and photographic equipment. His technical talent ensured a continuous flow of ideas for expanding his product offering. Working together with a cabinet-maker he developed model drawings for complete suites of furniture. He printed the drawings to a scale of 1:10 and sold hundreds of thousands of them over a number of years. Starting in 1925 he expanded his assortment by everything to do with radios. He sold technical drawings and radio components, also most successfully. In the years between the wars the company’s mail order business grew considerably, helping to spread technical knowledge among both young and old in Sweden. Stationary trade Goods by mail order formed the company’s core business until the early eighties, and the catalogue it published each year could be found in every household. However, then came the move to stationary trading. The first store was established at the company’s head office in Ninsjön, an outlet that has been extended several times since then and now covers an area of 2 000 m². In 1989 Clas Ohlson opened a second store in the centre of Stockholm with a floorspace of 385 m² to start with. In the meantime this has also been expanded to 2 000 m². Central office and DIY store in InsjönToday the company operates eleven stores in Sweden and six in Norway. The twelfth Swedish location is to open this spring. The stores have retail areas covering from 1 600 to 2 200 m² and carry an assortment of over 15 000 articles. The customer can plan his shopping trip by catalogue from the comfort of home. Each year 1.6 million copies of the catalogue are published in both Swedish and Norwegian. The Clas Ohlson stores are continuously undergoing a process of further development. The new “Markt 2000” concept, which appeared in 1997, has created a basis for structural uniformity: the retail area is planned so that the different product categories are clearly recognisable and the customer can quickly find what he wants. The clientele used to consist mainly of men aged between 45 and 55. Once the new concept had been put into practice the age spectrum of customers widened, with increasing numbers of women now…