Tormek
In the absence of a good method for sharpening tools, Torgny Jansson at the end of the 1960s developed a machine that solved the problem. Tormek was founded and in 1975 the company’s sharpening tools began to be exported to the other Scandinavian countries. Today Germany and the USA have surpassed Scandinavia and are the company’s most important markets.
Tormek in Lagercrantz Group
In early 2018, Torgny’s heirs decided that the company needed a new owner and Lagercrantz was chosen. A new board was appointed where Lagercrantz and the former owners were represented. The board was also supplemented with persons that had experience of e-commerce as well as of sales and development of consumer products. Today the company has a strong and well-developed marketing department and customer contacts in Sweden, USA and Germany. Tormek is very active on social media both itself and through a network of influencers. Innovation is part of Tormek’s DNA and development of new products is taking place continually. The completely new kitchen knife sharpener Tormek T-1 was introduced in 2022 and is targeted towards dedicated home chefs. In line with increasing demand for the company’s products, investments have been made in new production lines and expansion of the premises has occurred in several stages. Meanwhile, the channel strategy has also been developed and a separate sales and marketing operation for the USA has been established, where the company has benefited greatly from the infrastructure that has been built up by other already established Lagercrantz companies in Chicago. Tormek’s products are available on marketplaces such as Amazon in the USA and Europe and in line with the launch of the new product Tormek T-1 in more and more markets, e-commerce sales under the company’s own management are now being introduced for the first time.
“The recent years with the pandemic have been favourable for our business in many ways. Together with our suppliers, we have managed to scale up production in step with increasing demand. This combined with the sales organisation’s shift towards a clear online focus, is a big reason for our success.” Håkan Persson, MD
Published: November 2022