Drogenbos, Belgium - In January 1975, two Belgian businessmen, Leon Seynave and Luc Geuten opened their first Carpetland shop in Aartselaar, close to Antwerp.

 

Today, the Carpetland Group counts over 170 shops with some 1,200 employees in five European countries: Belgium and the Grand Duchy of Luxembourg (34 shops), France (59), the Netherlands (63, including seven ''Santana'' outlets, specialized in cork floor materials) and Switzerland (13). In 1998, the total turnover of the group reached $206 million and forecasts for 1999 are around $221 million.

Seynave and Geuten, who are still the main shareholders via their investment company, Mitiska, decided early this year to withdraw from the daily management of Carpetland. However, they are involved in a newly created strategic committee, the chief purpose of which is to survey global management and implement long term policy.

 

Seynaye's and Geuten's new roles prompted efforts to restructure management. Daily management of the group is now in the hands of Chief Executive Officer Hans Nijstad. He is assisted by a Chief Marketing Officer, a Chief Buying Officer and a Chief Financial Officer. Together with the general managers from countries in which Carpetland has stores, they form the Executive Committee which executes general management duties of the entire group.

 

Strategic headquarters are located in Antwerp, Belgium

A merchandising committee, directed by the Chief Buying Officer Stephan Leclair, and further consisting of four group product managers, a styling manager and a logistic manager, is responsible for building up the collection. For this, they work closely with the country product and commercial managers.

 

In 1999, Carpetland completed a project by which all of its shops began carrying the original assortment of floor coverings with a large range of other home decoration items such as paints, wallpaper, window decoration and curtains. ''This was a necessary step to take to remain competitive on the market,'' said General Manager for Belgium and Luxembourg John Buyckx. ''Our competitors do not stand still; several have copied our basic concept and product range and are going to operate more and more internationally.''

 

Carpetland has also introduced a complete assortment of other home decorative items and window covering, including a large collection of curtains. The company offers a complete range of curtains in the large middle market segment (from $5 to $38), available partly from stock, partly on sample (for the more expensive qualities). The wallpaper collection is being sold under its own logo, Carpetland Mondial Moquette, but the window decoration ranges do not have a specific brand name.

 

The curtain range follows the main international trends which, according to Group Product Manager Mathieu Delaey are towards ''richer'' fabrics with structured surfaces and an emphasis on jacquards, color ranges in blue-grey, beigebrown an ecru, and minimalistic designs.

 

While Carpetland's sales policy does not include warranties, Buyckx said the company is flexible in the case of unhappy customers.  ''We are very generous. If a client finds a defect on a product, we reimburse him without any problem,'' Buyckx said.