Mekonomen's history
A quite simple success story
The Start – How everything began
Mekonomen was formed in 1973 under the Bileko name by the two entrepreneur’s Ingemar Fraim and Leif Möller. Using a small store as a base, they drove around Stockholm in an old Mercedes car and were able to deliver spare parts within two hours from receiving calls from gas stations. The concept of rapid deliveries proved to be very successful and within a short time, they increased the range to include brakes, front ends, wheel bearings and other spare parts. Despite development in the market in the mid-1980s, the boundaries between retail and wholesale remained. Ingemar and Leif decided to expand and therefore purchased the Mekonomen store chain in 1987 with its 17 stores. This purchase gave them access to the flow between manufacturer, retailer and all the way to the end customer. The development - The efficient logistics chain
In 1992, sales exceeded SEK 100 M and the efficient logistics chain, with rapid deliveries, was a clearly crucial success factor for the business. The operations required more space and in 1995, the warehouse in Sätra nearly doubled and service to stores increased significantly with the start of overnight deliveries. Customers were able to receive their goods already the day after they had visited and ordered them at their Mekonomen store. In 1996, when Bileko changed its name to Mekonomen Grossist, the business concept from 1973 was fully realised – Mekonomen now became an integrated retail and wholesale chain. As the business grew, both geographically and with new product groups, Mekonomen recognised that a new warehouse was required. In 1988, the wholesale warehouse was relocated to a newly constructed property in Strängnäs. The growth - The expansion in Scandinavia
In 1999, operations were established in Norway and the Mekonomen Service Centre concept was launched in Sweden. Three years later Denmark’s leading spare parts chain, Østergaard, was acquired. Through this acquisition Mekonomen had a coverage in Sweden, Norway and Denmark. On 29 May 2000, Mekonomen was listed on the O-list of the Stockholm Stock Exchange. In conjunction with the listing on the Stock Exchange, Mekonomen’s well-known spare-parts catalogue was transferred to a web-based format. Today, car owners can visit Mekonomen’s website and fill in their registration numbers and directly find out which spare parts are obtainable for their specific vehicles. Today’s Mekonomen – everything for a simpler CarLife
In 2006, Mekonomen received a new principal owner, Axel Johnson AB, which acquired 29 per cent of the capital and votes from the Fraim and Möller families. In the year 2007 Håkan Lundstedt became CEO and a new strategy was formed. The new strategy states that Mekonomen shall offer it’s customers solutions that are affordable, innovative, with high quality and where the competence of our employees is of value for the customer. Actions that have been taken during 2008 and 2009 is the launch of the new concept MekoPartner and the launch of the new store and workshop concept Mega and Medium with a broader assortment and longer opening hours. Furthermore Mekonomen Direkt 0771-72 00 00 was launched and a new business area was started, Mekonomen Fleet, which is aimed at corporate customers with large fleets.
