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VORWERK Teppichwerke enters the Dutch market with the Ulf Moritz collection
Vorwerk, a brand-name manufacturer, enters into a strategic partnership with Mommersteeg BV to expand its business abroad in the Netherlands.
Huizen(NL)/Hameln(D), 24 August 2007 - Holland's carpet industry is receiving keen competition fropm Germany. As Vorwerk Teppichwerke from Hamlin announced, the company is going to distinctly boost its business abroad and expand sales activities on the Dutch market. To accomplish this Vorwerk has now agreed to a strategic partnership with Mommersteeg BV, a Dutch sales and distribution firm from Huizen. The two companies have known and worked with each other for years. "With Mommersteeg BV we have a partner who can draw on the best contacts and over 30 years of experience in selling high-quality carpet products for the home and contract sectors. In addition, our years of work together offer an outstanding basis for even closer co-operation," said Johannes Schulte, chairman of executive management at Vorwerk Teppichwerke, at the presentation of the new collection "Ulf Moritz by Vorwerk" on the 24th of August, 2007 in Amsterdam. Michiel Mommersteeg, managing director of Mommersteeg BV, also sees key opportunities in the partnership. "Our common goal is to develop the good market potentials in the Netherlands, to increase local familiarity with the Vorwerk brand, and to attend to the demand for German products in the upmarket segment more intensively than before using new, high-quality and internationally oriented carpet collections from Vorwerk." Vorwerk is making a start in the Netherlands with collections for high-end life at home. That will be followed by an expansion of the contract business too together with Mommersteeg BV.
Ulf Moritz has just the thing to suit a taste
Vorwerk Teppichwerke has developed new design and product strategies towards expanding its export business. Vorwerk works closely with Ulf Moritz, an internationally renowned textile designer who lives in Amsterdam. Moritz knows what is received well in the Netherlands. Hardly another designer manages to develop products that suit international tastes as successfully as he does. According to Ulf Moritz: "Internationally, German products are highly respected in terms of their quality and craftsmanship. It's only in design that Germany doesn't always suit international tastes." Which is why the "Ulf Moritz by Vorwerk" collection takes a different approach. It sets new accents in design and defines "room feeling" with a great deal more homeyness and pleasingly discreet luxury.
"Our new products have distinctly more volume, a higher pile and show a lot more structure," is how Johannes Schulte describes the new collection. "Alongside high-grade, high-tech fibres made of polyamide we are setting a new emphasis by using valuable natural fibres like wool and wool-mix products. Our palette of colours has also been completely revised by Ulf Moritz and adapted to match the needs posed by international tastes. That means we are refraining from offering glaring hues, and have reduced the scale of brown and beige shades in favour of clearer, warmer shades."
At the same time, with the "Ulf Moritz bei Vorwerk" collection the carpet manufacturer is entering another market segment that is new to Vorwerk. Whereas the focus in collections for the home had been placed previously on the mid-range market and upmarket sectors, Vorwerk is now aspiring to a presence in the top segment of exclusive, high-priced brands. "While the mid-range market is generally in a slump, we are observing distinct stability right up to growth in the high-priced segments," Schulte notes.
By closely accompanying Vorwerk in product development, it is Ulf Moritz who not least of all has had a fundamential influence on these strategic developments. The outcome of their work together on the Vorwerk contract collections "Projection" and "Inspiration" demonstrated that Vorwerk products have received distinctly more attention internationally; the sales figures abroad rose clearly, too. Through his work together with Sahco Hesslein, Ulf Moritz is already internationally acclaimed and successful in the area of luxury products for the textile furnishing sector. Vorwerk is already announcing a new project with Ulf Moritz for 2008. As early as the first half of the year, the Vorwerk "Fascination" collection for the home is going to be fully revised and offered to the trade in a fashion clearly co-ordinated to suit the international market. The Netherlands too can now get ready to eagerly await the prospects to come.
Vorwerk has the potential for international growth
The name Vorwerk Teppichwerke has stood for high-quality, design-oriented textile floor coverings for 124 years. In Germany, the brand-name manufacturer has been among the industry's market leaders for years and very successful with its broad selection of products offered, both in the private sector for the home and in the commercial contract business for carpets. On the difficult German market the company is one of the few carpet manufacturers that have been able to assert themselves against a declining trend in recent years. As a member company of the international Vorwerk Group with a focus on the direct sales of household appliances and the textile and service sectors, Vorwerk Teppichwerke was able to boost its turnover by 6% in 2006 to EUR 74 million (incl. VAT), thus strengthening its market position even further. Turnover, the quantity sold and the market share have all increased for the third year in a row, which mean that the company can readily demonstrate a stable earnings position.
In light of this, the step towards a stronger internationalisation in Europe's converging markets is not surprising. As Johannes Schulte states: "If we want to continue to grow, then we can't concentrate on the German market alone." The company already started to put this into practice early in 2007 by doubling its sales activities in France. The Netherlands are currently the focus of activity. Vorwerk is subsequently going to expand its business on the UK market and in the up-and-coming nations of the CIS as well, first and foremost Russia.
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