Anders Zettergren has been running Kryddlandet for nearly seven years. The company's expansion was significant during the pandemic.
It was during 2020 that the business really took off, with revenue nearly doubling compared to 2019.
– Something happened during the pandemic. Overnight, sales reached a whole new level, Anders explains when we meet at Anderstorp.
It all started when Anders Zettergren bought the e-commerce company Kryddlandet from a seller in Skåne in 2016 and moved it to his home outside Skellefteå. In 2017, Anders, who is a civil engineer, decided to take a chance and see if the hobby project could become a fully-fledged business.
As the name suggests, Kryddlandet (The Land of Spices) primarily deals with the online sale of spices and other flavorings.
This is how the premises looked in the spring of 2019 – then with e-commerce manager Lisa Andersson and Anders Zettergren. Today, seven people besides Anders are employed in the company.
In 2019, the business moved from Hedensbyn to Entreprenören at Anderstorp. At that time, there was plenty of room for expansion within the 250-square-meter space. Today, the premises are quite snugly filled. Growth has continued. From nine million kronor in revenue in 2020 to over twelve million kronor last year.
Lisa Andersson at Kryddlandet packs orders to be sent to customers.
– Sales continued to increase even after the pandemic. Interest in cooking at home has grown a lot. We now see that we are at a stable level and have steady growth. The trend continues to be positive," states Zettergren.
– We have expanded quickly with more products, as well as a larger assortment and inventory.
Volodymyr Sytnikov is one of the seven employees at Kryddlandet, working here with the company's own products.
Today, in addition to Anders, seven people work in the business.
The core market is private customers.
– The private market is our focus, but the number of business customers is also increasing, he adds.
"Something happened during the pandemic. The level of sales changed completely overnight," says Anders Zettergren.
Local customers have also sought out Kryddlandet for in-shop purchases, with about a hundred stopping by each week.
Anders also sees a change in consumption patterns. Two or three years ago, it was clear that orders for certain items increased right after a cooking show on TV had featured them.
– Now we have very broad sales every day, observes Anders.
Today, Kryddlandet offers 3,000 products, with the last 1,000 added in a relatively short time.
Kryddlandet has developed its own products, which have become increasingly important for the company.
The major change for Kryddlandet is that the company is increasingly focusing on what the industry calls EMV (own brand products). Anders and his employees are now developing and selling products under the Kryddlandet brand.
– What the customers are asking for guides what we produce. We develop and test our own products on site. We've seen that it's been highly appreciated, he says.
The influx to Skellefteå – as Norran recently reported that Northvolt Ett now has staff from 95 countries – is something that Kryddlandet has also noticed.
– We have customers who have moved here because of Northvolt. They request new products and often give us tips on what we should sell, he adds.
Every day, courier companies stop by Kryddlandet to pick up deliveries for customers.
Kryddlandet has now been part of Anders Zettergren's life for seven years. The current premises are more than twice as large as the company's previous space at Hedensbyn.
– I said we could be three times as big here. We've surpassed that now, but the premises will last us for a while longer.