Industry Spotlight: Mercado
Andreas Teske has been the CEO of Mercado Medic for seven years, and he has been with Mercado for twenty-five years. The company has been buying wheels from Swede-Wheel for just as long.
The Mercado chair - a concept
“Our business doesn’t happen with the end-users of our products. Our customers are assistive technology centres, meaning regions and municipalities, both in Sweden and beyond our borders. Up until now, our best-selling chair has been sold in 250,000 units, or in Swede-Wheel’s terms - 1 million castors.”
The term ’Mercado chair’ has become the generic term in the industry to illustrate the type of chairs the company manufactures. Mercado is, therefore, a well-known player in the market and holds a significant share of the Swedish market. Andreas informs us that all development and production of Mercado’s work chairs and electric wheelchairs take place in Sweden. The primary users of these medical technology chairs are children and adults with functional variations.
Made in Sweden
Mercado’s chairs are not only sold to the Swedish market. Andreas explains the structure of their export organisation. “We have sales offices in the Netherlands, Germany, and the UK. In total, we are nearly 100 employees, including our Swedish units.” Mercado is owned by a Dutch family, and through the Dutch office, they are responsible for a significant part of the export sales. Other representation is handled through distributors with a presence in countries such as Norway, Italy, the USA, Canada, New Zealand, Iceland, and Finland.
Challenging product development
In times where sustainability is a focus, Andreas acknowledges that balancing sustainable product development with the procurement process is a challenge. “For our part, it means that we focus on a high degree of automation and production improvements. We manufacture Swedish products, and we need to be competitive in a global market. We also naturally demand that our suppliers be ISO-certified in terms of both quality and the environment.”
No black marks
Sometimes, Andreas tells us, the castors are blamed for leaving black marks on the floors. “When we ask them to show how our (Swede-Wheel’s) wheels blacken the floors, it always turns out to be counterfeit copies causing the issue. It feels good when our choices prove to be the right ones, and it also explains our long-term partnership with Swede-Wheel.”