Customer Reference
Motonet heads for international growth with EG Retail
Car part and leisure equipment store chain Motonet deployed EG Retail to enable international expansion and growth.
Read the full customer reference
Scalable store solution facilitates expansion and concept duplication
Motonet’s quickly expanding store network currently covers all of Finland and has taken promising first steps in Sweden and Estonia.
Motonet is a steadily growing store chain that specialises in car and motorcycle spare parts and equipment, tools and leisure goods. In addition to motorists and bikers, the stores offer a wide range of products to boaters, fishing enthusiasts and home renovators.
Part of Broman Group, Finland-based Motonet has ambitious plans for international expansion. It has already opened its first stores in Sweden and Estonia.
"We currently have a very good coverage in Finland with 41 physical stores and an online store. We have operated in Estonia for a few years now, and in autumn 2023, we opened our first store in Sweden. We’re confident that the store in Sundsvall is only the first of many to come and that Swedes will learn to love Motonet just as much as Finns do," says CEO of Broman Group Toni Stigzelius.
Motonet has over 1.5 million loyalty customers in Finland, and the relationship that customers have with Motonet is, in fact, a bit of a love affair. Consumer surveys show that Motonet excels both in customer service and customer loyalty.
"We aim to offer our customers an overall experience, combined with value adding services. Experience may sound like a big word when talking about a retail store, but it seems to hold true in our case. Our customers are willing to spend more time at our stores than their schedule would actually allow," Stigzelius says with a kind grin.
It was reassuring to hear that other companies were also happy with EG RetailToni Stigzelius, CEO, Broman Group
In search of a scalable, stable and modern POS system
When the decision of international expansion was made at Motonet, it soon became apparent that their IT system needed an upgrade. At the time, they used a self-developed system which served the company’s needs up to a point, but with higher volumes in both sales and stores, better scalability became essential.
"We mapped out a number of options from light cloud-based mobile solutions all the way to heavy-duty commerce solutions. We decided on EG Retail because it was established and stable while also offering modern functionalities, scalability and integratability. Another factor that weighed in the decision was customer references.
In addition to seeking a new POS system, Motonet wanted to renew the IT landscape, including its e-commerce platform and customer loyalty programme system.
"It was key for us to be able to combine customers’ shopping carts across the online store and physical stores to enable a smooth overall customer experience."
We can now identify our customers both in-store and online, apply their personal discounts throughout, and so forthToni Stigzelius, CEO, Broman Group
Another focal point in providing great customer service is the cashier’s desk.
"A key goal for us was to find a solution that was easy to use and wouldn’t create any fuss at the cashier’s desk. Job orientation also needs to be smooth, since there’s always some natural turnover in the staff and there are summer employees and stand-ins coming in. Therefore, the system needed to be intuitive and easy to learn. When our staff enjoys their work, it also shows to our customers," Stigzelius says.
We decided on EG Retail because it was established and stable while also offering modern functionalities, scalability and integratabilityToni Stigzelius, CEO, Broman Group
High volumes, heavy traffic and over 100,000 trade items
Three key elements behind Motonet’s success are wide product range, reasonable prices and excellent customer service.
Good service also takes many forms: sometimes it may mean self-service, sometimes customers like to buy small repair, measurement or fixture replacement services to accompany their purchases.
Offering a complete package for customers means that the stores need to provide versatile services and their product range must be wide.
Motonet currently has over 100,000 trade items available in 43 stores in 3 countries, and approximately 1600 employees working at the stores at any given time during opening hours.
This overall setup also poses a number of challenges to the company’s IT solution.
In addition to a high number of simultaneous users and sales items, the system has to support operations across Motonet’s all three markets while also accounting for their different VAT processing and banking rules.
I find this process to be a challenge we can share with EG and genuinely work together. EG has proven to be a professional partner with which we’ve been able to deep dive into our growing businessToni Stigzelius, CEO, Broman Group
EG Retail provides support across all three markets
Motonet and EG started collaboration in 2022 and moved to system deployment with a swift roll-out plan in autumn 2023. Stigzelius readily admits that the starting point was challenging and the timeline was ambitious. It is no secret that changing systems always requires work, concentration and optimisation – but the reward at the end has been highly worthwhile in this case.
"We have to have a reliable system in place every moment during our opening hours and 24/7 online. The transition was therefore suspenseful for us, of course, but the roll-out went well and without any major problems despite the tight schedule. We soon started receiving positive comments from our staff, and I’m also very happy with our current concept," Stigzelius says.
In the first wave, Motonet deployed the EG Retail solution which was first piloted in a single store. With good experiences received, it soon expanded across all others.
"EG’s basic product is functional in itself, so we didn’t want any substantial tailoring. Now that the system has been set up, we’re also able to duplicate it to new stores with reasonable effort and costs," Stigzelius says.
Due to Motonet’s high customer numbers every day, the company wants to keep a close eye on the process and only bring in new functionalities gradually. Next steps in the collaboration will involve the deployment of a mobile POS system.
Four recommendations
Based on his experiences from the POS system transition project, Toni Stigzelius has four recommendations for others with a similar project at hand:
- Communicate. Keep your staff closely informed of what will change, when and how. Repeat the same message in various channels.
- Explain why. Motivation arises from knowing why changes are being made and what benefits they will bring.
- Trust the outcome. Change always requires effort and management. Make explicit plans and keep to them. Stay determined even when others raise doubts – we all deal with changes differently.
- Ensure sufficient resources, especially during the first weeks of transition.
Challenge
Motonet needed to upgrade its POS system to allow for smooth expansion and international growth.
Solution
The company chose EG Retail due to its scalability, comprehensiveness and ease of use. The system was rolled out in autumn 2023.
Result
EG Retail has proven to be a good solution for Motonet’s customers, cashiers and management alike. Due to its stability and yet modernity, EG Retail will serve Motonet’s needs in the long term.
Motonet
About Motonet
Motonet is a store chain that specialises in car and motorcycle spare parts and equipment, tools and leisure goods. In addition to motorists and bikers, the stores offer a large range of products to boaters, fishing enthusiasts and home renovators. The store network of the Finland-based company currently extends all the way from Finland’s capital region in south to Rovaniemi in Lapland. Motonet has also expanded to Sweden and Estonia. Motonet is part of Broman Group with approximately 2,000 employees.