Customer Case: Cykloteket

Martin Andersson, Head of Purchasing at Cykloteket, shares his experience:

"A challenge in retail is how to reach all staff. They are spread across different stores and work varying hours. Some work evenings and weekends, others only certain days of the week, while relatively few work full-time on fixed schedules."

He goes on to explain how Evercate has facilitated knowledge transfer:

"We use Evercate for onboarding and to quickly and smoothly keep all employees up to date with the latest products and trends. Development in this area moves so fast today, so it's invaluable to be able to reach everyone at the same time."

Customers who visit Cykloteket's stores or online shop expect first-class service and solid expertise from the staff. They might want help figuring out which bike suits them best or what's needed to keep their children safe on their first bike. Simply pointing to the right shelf or suggesting they pick one that looks nice just doesn't cut it.

"New store employees get access to their training before they even start, which means they are well-prepared, more comfortable and confident in their new role from day one. It also becomes fairer in a completely different way. Everyone gets the same conditions regardless of how schedules are arranged or if they only work extra shifts here and there," says Martin Andersson.

Cykloteket holds a weekly meeting in their stores. Before they started using Evercate, more and more of the time in these meetings was spent distributing information about new products, which meant the weekly meeting was no longer used for its intended purpose – to raise questions and create involvement. It also turned out to not be a particularly effective channel for the information.

"If there used to be 15 people working in a store, we could never gather everyone for a joint briefing due to schedules, no matter how much everyone wanted to. Before, we could perhaps reach 5-7 employees at a time when we were on-site for a briefing. Today, we easily reach everyone instead, as each person can absorb the information when it suits them," says Martin Andersson, and continues:

"This means you can instead focus time in the store on other things. Meeting at weekly meetings is very valuable as it lets us raise important issues. But now we can focus on creating dialogue and increased participation when we meet instead of cramming in information about new products and campaigns. This creates better conditions for success, both for the employees and for the organisation as a whole."

When we talk to Martin, it's hard not to hear how the passion for Cykloteket shines through. The relationship with the employees is like family, warm and heartfelt with a touch of playfulness. He concludes by describing how Evercate has helped them on the organisational level.

"It is rewarding to be able to see in black and white how it is received and completed throughout the organisation. Both for the store managers at their level and for us centrally. It makes it easier to identify what we do that gives the results we are looking for and where we can become even better as an organisation," he says, adding:

"I also like the automation with reminders for those who don't finish on time. Freedom with responsibility is good, but we can all occasionally need a friendly nudge to get us over the threshold."