CENOR SEEKS NORWEGIAN PARTNER

The company is headquartered in Stockholm and has a Nordic central warehouse in Vaggeryd, south of Jönköping. The group consists of a total of six companies under the Cenor name, with sales companies in Sweden, Denmark and Finland, as well as a product department in Germany.

– We are now looking for a Norwegian partner or distributor for our entire product portfolio, which is supplied from our Nordic central warehouse, Lennart Starby, managing director of Cenor Nordic AB, tells the trade magazine Elektronikkbransjen.

Own brand

For just over a year, Cenor has had its own brand for mobile accessories, called X2O. The brand covers product groups such as cases, wallets, cables, chargers and some headphones. Tablet cases are also included.

– 80 per cent of what we are talking about here today concerns a mobile phone, says Starby.

The product department has been assigned to the German subsidiary Cenor GmbH, and Starby says the reason for this is that near Hamburg they found two people with extensive experience in quality, approval procedures and contact with Chinese factories.

– We have quite a large influence when it comes to the design of the cases, and we make sure the quality is good. We want the consumer to feel satisfied and proud of the purchase they have made, says Starby.

The company requires testing of, among other things, chargers and cables before they are included in the range.

– We have had some chargers that we stopped quite recently, because they became too hot after a while. Then we do not include them, even if the factory has permission to sell them, says Starby.

Portfolio and brands

In total, the company stocks around 2,200 to 2,500 out of approximately 3,000 items. Among the brands apart from X2O are Tech21 for shockproof mobile phone cases, Xstorm in power banks, Tucano

for laptop bags and backpacks, Reolink for surveillance cameras, Defunc and Mondo by Defunc in audio, as well as Fixed, which covers accessories for, among other things, bicycles, watches and tracking devices. The other brands are Baracuda, Burga, Gecko Covers, Just In Case, Kaarna Protect, LinQ, Pitaka, Reolink, Wenger, White Shark, Vivanco and Yaber.

– Tech21 is the original when it comes to shockproof mobile phone cases. It is a very important supplier for us, says Starby.

He emphasises that Cenor only works with suppliers that have their certificates in order and pay their fees to relevant organisations.

Structured range building

– Can you describe Cenor's DNA?

– Orderliness is a major part of our DNA, and we do not compete with ourselves by bringing in the same product from several suppliers. Not least, it is important that our employees know the products they sell, says Starby.

He says the product portfolio is built like a flower, with X2O forming the core and the other brands being the petals; complementary and mainly aimed at the premium segment.

– The ideal customer for us gives us an area of a certain number of square metres and lets us take care of it, where we continuously replace what does not sell with products that generate turnover, says Starby.

Limited in Norway

At present, the presence in Norway is modest. The company has a few customers for a limited selection of products, including via Elkjøp’s central warehouse.

In Denmark, Salling Group is the largest customer, and the company is also represented by, among others, Pro Shop and Coolshop. In Finland, Elisa, the country’s largest telecom operator, is the main customer, and Cenor acts there as a total supplier. Veikon Kone is among the other Finnish customers.

– We have a strong and good portfolio that could be of great benefit to a Norwegian distributor, says Starby.