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CARPET STAR
2023
Carpet Retailers of the Year
Teppich-Fachhändler des Jahres
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CARPET STAR 2023
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Monika Adler and Ali Bagheri got started by selling oriental rugs as merchants in an online market- place, working out a 40 sqm student flat.
Monika Adler and Ali Bagheri got started selling oriental rugs as merchants in an online mar- ketplace, working out a 40 sqm student flat. It didn’t take long until they ingeniously decided to launch their e-commerce carpet shop, and thus the company Benuta was born back in 2008 – which is this year’s Carpet Star recipient for exemplary online carpet retail.
Back then few believed people would buy car- pets without being able to touch them first. It was generally thought that this product cat- egory would be poorly suited for e-commerce, being seen as a kind of stuffy “old school” item. But Benuta came along and put carpets on the internet anyway, then proceeded to sell them with great success at www.benuta.de without bringing in any outside investors. The compa- ny’s product array spans many styles and pro- duction methods, ranging from shag carpets to
vintage designs, and from machine-weave to hand-knotted rugs. Poufs, cushions, artificial furs, bath mats and other living accessories round out the assortment. Proprietary brands make up 99% of the range, which is therefore exclusive and exists apart from the generic, ‘me- too’ aspects of the market.
The e-commerce carpet merchant with head- quarters in Bonn offers more than 20,000 items, maintaining a logistics centre in Dormagen. The company keeps 1.5 million items in stock, and is capable of shipping up to 20,000 packages per day to customers in 27 countries. Benuta also of- fers B2B services for retailers, including custom collection tailoring, IT support and dropship- ping. Proudly independent, the firm has over 100 employees and handles most business func- tions in-house, benefiting from having all opera- tions essentially in one place.
Unlike in classic carpet retail, where decisions are often made “by gut feel” according to Moni- ka Adler, Benuta intensively uses data: statistics and analytics tools that allow real-time moni- toring of online developments and company processes, enabling quick reaction. This rapid response capability extends into marketing activities on the website, merchandise man- agement and the firm’s social media presence. Collaborating with influencers has proven ef- fective for advertising and measurably paid off.
The technology for running the online shop is kept up-to-date at all times and undergoes con- stant further development internally to opti- mise processes. “We benefit a lot from having our development in-house,” explains Adler, “It
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Bonn-based Benuta wins a Carpet Star 2023 for exemplary online carpet retailing
From e-commerce startup to carpet brand
PHOTOS: BENUTA