How Pelle Vävare uses Madden to buy the right inventory

Pelle Vävare used to plan their purchasing in heavy and manually updated excel sheets — a time-consuming process with high risk of errors. With Madden, forecasting and buying recommendations are automated, and the team can focus on other levers to enable sustainable and long-term growth. 

Pelle Vävare’s history dates back to the 1960s when designer Pelle Almqvist bought the weaving mill Borgs Väveri, established in 1893, wanting to focus on high-quality products with beautiful patterns. Today, the company is run by three joint owners, all with different competencies complementing each other. Their goal is to care for the brand as Pelle once did and continue developing it into the 2020s — together with Pelle’s daughter as one of the designers.

Lisa Basilius, one of the owners and CEO of Pelle Vävare, has a lengthy background in purchasing and fashion. She ran a thrift store with her sister-in-law during her studies, focusing on maternity clothes. After her studies, she worked at H&M’s purchasing department, a job she stayed at for 13 years before it was time to do her own thing again — this time with Pelle Vävare. 

— I’ve always loved to develop my own thing, from selling flowers on my street growing up, starting my own newspaper in my basement in middle school, to now as a CEO of Pelle Vävare. In my daily work today, I do everything from working with long-term strategies, and developing the collections, to packing orders at the warehouse when necessary. I love to work based on strategic targets and see how Pelle Vävare develops as a company based on what my colleagues and I do. 

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By recommendation

Finding the perfect match with a software solution isn’t an easy job. Pelle Vävare had been on the hunt for an inventory planning tool for quite some time without managing to find the perfect fit. But after being recommended by a previous working colleague about Madden Analytics, Lisa and her team were immediately interested. 

— After the first meeting, where we got a better picture of the software, we realized quickly that Madden was the solution we were looking for. It was an easy choice based on the simplicity of the software and the trust we felt from Madden, Lisa says.

Before working with Madden Analytics, Lisa and her team worked on heavy excel sheets that needed to be updated manually every week, with high error risks. Madden’s inventory planning and budgeting functionalities have automated this work. 

— Working manually in that way created risks for errors each time the sheets were updated. And it was highly time-consuming, time which we now use for other things. After a smooth and simple onboarding process by Madden, with an introduction and follow-up meetings for our questions, we knew we had made the right choice, Lisa says and continues:

— It’s easy to understand and use, without any previous knowledge or a need for consultants to be hired; you can simply get going instantly. We hadn’t found any other software supplier being able to deliver that promise. 

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Optimizing sales sustainably

With the current global situation — inflation, the war in Europe, and a climate crisis — Lisa thinks cautiously about the future. In the commerce business, the inventory is often the highest cost, and having the right products on the shelf at the right time is crucial for a profitable business. Lisa explains:

— Madden is a huge help for us now and will be for many more companies in the future. Apart from being a good solution that helps us plan and optimize our purchases, the best thing about Madden is their responsiveness and how they continually tweak the software to improve it and make it more user-friendly based on our needs, Lisa says and continues:

— For all other e-commerce businesses, I recommend using Madden’s solutions to get help optimizing the sales. I see great potential in our collaboration and our ability to grow sustainably without compromising the quality that is Pelle Vävare’s trademark.

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