The Company’s Position in the Carpet Business

The company is part of the tufted woollen carpet business.  It is the only Greek company to operate in this line of production and practically monopolises the respective market which, in any case, is limited in capacity.  Due to the small capacity of the domestic market, FINTEXPORT AE has based its development on creating markets abroad.

The wool carpet is regarded as high quality product and composes a niche market, with low percentage of the total sales of carpet, at least as far as square meters are concerned. Because of the fact that the product is a high quality one, this percentage is higher as far as the weight and the value are concerned.

In developed countries, the percentage of woollen carpets ranges from 5-7% with the exception of Great Britain, where the percentage is around 15%.  The prevalent woollen carpet markets are Western Europe and North America.  The principle countries where woollen carpets are produced are Belgium, the Netherlands, Great Britain, Ireland and Australia.  In the USA and Canada almost all woollen carpets are imported from Europe. 

The thread used for producing woollen carpets is mainly produced in spinning mills.  The number of these mills in Europe has fallen considerably in recent years and there has been a relocation of equipment to Asian and Eastern European countries.  Despite this, woollen carpet production remains a stable practice in traditional European countries.  The reason for this can be attributed to the fact that woollen carpets are a fine aesthetic product, basing their competition on contemporary design, rather than price alone.

FINTEXPORT AE is commercially orientated mainly towards two large markets, namely Great Britain and the USA.  The former is important due to its high per person consumption of carpet and, in addition to its traditional preference for wool  The latter, on the other hand, is important as its size allows for the growth of wool-specialising distribution networks on a national scale.

Given the enormous size of the aforementioned markets, FINTEXPORT AE does not monitor its individual market share using a quantitive approach, rather it assesses its position by means of qualitive criteria such as the scope and quality of its clientele, building stable and long-term relations with the most important distributors of each country, and the possibility of manufacturing prototype products to follow or to create contemporary aesthetic trends.