During the fiscal year 2025, the company's turnover reached 11.1 million SEK, compared to 7.9 million SEK the previous year. At the same time, profitability improved, and operating profit landed at approximately 523,000 SEK, representing an increase of nearly 9 percent.
Expanding at such a rate without bringing in external investors requires a balanced financial structure. For Tônn Furniture, the key has been to design a system where capital is not locked into excessively large volumes.
Josefine Halfwordson explains that the economic fluctuations of recent years have provided valuable lessons for the future.
11 to 100 million before I turn 50, in 2030, is a high goal. That's an increase of about 55 percent per year. But we're holding that so far, she says and continues:
The capital requirement may change along the way. We learned that from the turbulence of recent years. Now we have built a functioning business model with supplier terms and inventory turnover that allows us to grow without tying up disproportionately large amounts of capital in stock.
Previously, there was hesitation about letting the business grow in size. The fear was about losing the company's fundamental identity. However, after a period of growth in connection with the pandemic, the attitude towards what expansion actually means for the business's development changed.
I long believed that I wanted to run a small company. A company where I could draw a salary, have some employees and be happy with that. I was afraid that growth would make us lose our soul. But somewhere after corona, when we grew, I realized that this could be scaled.
I realized that growth is about being able to do more fun things, hire more talented people and develop more products. Today, the goal of 100 million doesn't feel like a financial goal. It feels more like a way to build the Tônn I want the company to be.
From Store Shelf to Modular System
The company's core product, the Portal shelving system, did not originally arise as a sales item. It was created to solve a practical need for exposure in the physical store that Josefine Halfwordson ran under the former name Betonggruvan. Demand from visitors led to the product being further developed.
Tônn Furniture was born out of a shelf I made for an interior design store I ran. Then the company was called Betonggruvan. I needed a shelf to display the products I was selling. The shelf should be easy to assemble, airy and easy to rebuild. It did its job, customers started asking if it could be bought, says Josefine.
I saw the potential and that's the shelf we're still building on to make it a shelf for every room in the home. That's the most important thing we take with us. Build on and make it better by listening to customers, testing small and scaling up what works.
Logistics Investment in Own Warehouse
In April 2026, Tônn Furniture moved its logistics operations to new premises. The new warehouse is located in Nacka outside Stockholm and represents a quadrupling of the area compared to the previous one.
Scaling up warehouse operations and simultaneously introducing more employees to the routines has presented new challenges for the organization.
The new warehouse is 400 square meters, and that's big for us! With two to three large deliveries each month, we roll the warehouse quickly. The trickiest thing has been going from one person in the warehouse who knows everything, to hiring one more and now another one. Now we are building the warehouse so that someone who has never worked with us can come in and understand how we pack.
Many e-commerce companies choose to outsource their logistics to external third-party actors to manage growth. Tônn Furniture, however, has chosen to go the opposite way by keeping the handling in-house, and has placed great emphasis on the warehouse environment reflecting the brand's visual expression.
Maybe it's foolish to have your own warehouse. But the warehouse is not just logistics. It's where we learn how customers shop, what's bothering them and how we can get better. It was important from the beginning to build the warehouse into a Tônn place that maintains the same feeling as the rest of the brand. We repainted all the pallet racking and packing carts in a perfect shade of green.
International E-commerce and Marketing
Sales currently take place via the company's own e-commerce platform as well as through established retailers on the market. Although external platforms provide volume and visibility, the primary focus is on the company's own digital channels to maintain direct contact with consumers.
Our biggest focus will always be on our own channels. That's where we have contact with customers, meet them, build relationships and thereby grow. We are honored to be included at large, reliable Nordic Nest and Svenssons. It's like a receipt that we've built something good and a good way for us to build volume.
Regarding international expansion, it is primarily Germany and the Netherlands that are showing progress. The marketing strategy is based on digital advertising on social media combined with local collaborations and PR efforts.
We run ads on Meta, Google and Pinterest and see that it works best when these three work together. Going forward, we are looking at how we can work with PR agencies or PR people in each market to be able to establish ourselves more locally.
We just completed our first event in Berlin with two other Swedish companies. It feels interesting to build on that community as one of the ways to reach out into the world.
The methodology for tackling new geographical areas follows the same pattern as in the domestic market. It's about evaluating smaller initiatives before resources are scaled up.
We have continued in the same way as in Sweden and as with everything we do. Test small and scale up what works. Work with interesting profiles in the market we want to enter and at the same time go in with ads on Meta, Google and Pinterest. That has worked best for us.
Relocated Production and Future Team
The furniture is currently manufactured by external producers in Latvia and Lithuania, where there is room to increase volumes as demand increases. At the same time, the company has chosen to relocate part of the production to Sweden, primarily to meet logistical challenges and rising transport costs.
We have two stable suppliers in the Baltics where we are still relatively small customers and see that we can grow with them. In parallel, we are discussing with new suppliers for existing products but also to be able to broaden. We have just started producing accessories for the shelving system in Sweden. That feels extremely exciting to be able to move more of the production home. Partly from a sustainability perspective and to be able to tackle rising freight prices.
During 2024 and 2025, the number of employees has averaged four people. To reach the set turnover target by 2030, there is a long-term plan for the workforce, but recruitment will take place at a controlled pace.
I believe in growing the team slowly and controlled. This fall, we are looking for a wise and fun person who can step into the role of Content Producer, who can help us continue to build the brand.
The long-term plan extends to 2030, when the organization is expected to consist of around twelve people. The roles will be adapted to how the market and the business develop over time.
The team is extremely important. It is the people who create the Tônn feeling even as we grow. We have a five-year plan for how the organization needs to develop by 2030 and expect to be around twelve people then. But exactly what roles are needed I want to keep an open mind about. Companies change quickly and then the team must be allowed to do so too.
AI Tools Developed In-House
To make it easier for customers to draw and customize their shelving systems, the company has developed a new digital planning tool in-house using the AI platform Claude. The purpose is to create a complement to the personal advice offered in the company's showroom and via digital meetings.
Right now, the team is building a Portal Planner in Claude where customers can easily plan their own shelf. We are of course retaining personal advice in the showroom, on video and via email. The Portal Planner should be a complement to that. But I think it has become so good precisely because we built it in-house. Those who developed it know the customers, know what questions they ask and what solutions they are looking for. That's how I want to continue building Tônn, close to the customer, in-house and curious about new technology.
Leading a company through rapid growth requires flexibility and an ability to adapt to where the business expands best. Josefine Halfwordson sees entrepreneurship as a dynamic process that is constantly changing shape.
I usually think that building a company is like pushing an amoeba that swells. The most important thing is to be there and push it in the direction it wants to swell and relieve the pressure where it is constricted. That's the most fun I have getting to push that amoeba forward, concludes Josefine Halfwordson.