Through its stores, the organization provides affordable, quality products to customers while promoting social and ecological sustainability.
Business case
Matmissionen’s biggest challenge is that its entire supply chain depends on donated goods. That means the team has little control over what food comes in, when it arrives, or how much they get. As a result, supplies can fluctuate from day to day, making it hard to plan operations, meet demand consistently, and offer customers a balanced variety of products. To handle these challenges, Matmissionen needed an ERP system that could track inventory in real time, distribute products fairly across stores, and manage customer purchase limits to make sure everyone gets a fair share.
"Given that we work solely with donations, we cannot really plan maybe one or two days ahead to what our inventory will be,” says Johan Rindevall, CEO at Matmissionen. “We need special requirements and adjustments when it comes to special rules in the stores."
Beyond supply fluctuations, Matmissionen also faced several operational hurdles. Each store operated independently, relying on shared documents for basic coordination and pricing information. Additionally, the warehouse, partnership management, and stores functioned as separate systems without integration.
Solution
To overcome its operational challenges, the Swedish company collaborated with local LS Retail partner Azets to implement the LS Central POS and retail management system.
Matmissionen chose Azets for their experience with complex retail projects and their ability to meet unique business requirements. To support Matmissionen’s social retail model, a few customizations were developed around donation-based inventory management, customer purchase limits, and real-time distribution across stores.
"Our IT partner really took to heart the special needs that we have in our business,” says Rindevall. “We are not a standard store, and there's been a real willingness to listen and understand, then come with suggestions on how to adapt the new system."
Benefits
The implementation of LS Central has transformed operations by creating a comprehensive platform that combines point of sale, store management, inventory, reporting, and financial processes. Key operational improvements include:
- Streamlined warehouse processes: When products arrive at the central warehouse, staff can now scan items to determine quantities, verify system presence, establish pricing, set customer purchase limits, and allocate stock across stores.
- Accurate communication across systems: The partnership management, warehouse, and stores now send information in real time, eliminating delays and manual work. "We really need to handle it quickly and get it out to the stores, maybe the same day and get it sold the same day that we get the product,” says Alexandra Matrai, COO at Matmissionen. “Now we finally have our partnership people connected to the warehouse and connected to the stores. Before, these were three different systems."
- Fair product distribution: Instant insight into inventory levels enables faster, more informed decisions about product allocation, pricing, and promotions. The system ensures equitable allocation of donated goods between stores and among customers. "The biggest benefit we have seen is to divide the products more fairly between both stores and unique customers,” says Rindevall. “Since we work with sustainability, be it social or ecological sustainability, we really look forward to providing those types of metrics to our customers."
- Comprehensive reporting: Integrated reporting capabilities allow Matmissionen to measure and communicate social and ecological sustainability outcomes to stakeholders.
The implementation of LS Central has enabled Matmissionen to achieve comprehensive visibility and control over its entire supply chain, from warehouse receipt to individual store purchases. "We are really happy with the outcome where we are now, but we also have a clear vision of where we want to be in two or three years," says Matrai.
