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RugVista – helping people to a home they love.

How we developed RugVista into a category leader within rugs.

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About RugVista.

RugVista, with head office in Limhamn, Sweden, is one of the leading European direct-to-consumer (“D2C”) online platforms within carpet and rug sales. The company was founded in 2005 and today sells its products through web shops in 20 different local languages which in 2020 attracted 33 million visits and generated more than 200 000 orders from customers in 55 different countries.

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Investment rationale.

In 2015, RugVista had a strong position in a market that was just starting to transition from traditional physical stores to online. Litorina saw the potential for the rug category to be a future winner online as it suits e-commerce once consumers get comfortable buying more expensive products online. Consumers can browse an almost infinite number of rugs online (or some 20.000 rugs at least), see detailed pictures of the products, get a really good price and best of all, have the often very heavy rugs delivered right to their doorstep. The ambition was to help the company develop from (as the co-founder and then CEO Ludvig Friberger said) a large small company to a small large company.

Value creation initiatives.

  • Setting the foundation

  • In order to build structural capital of a larger company, in line with then CEO Ludvig Friberger’s vision, Litorina supported the company in recruiting and building a team that could scale RugVista. During Litorina’s ownership, Ludvig transitioned into a CTO role and the team was strengthened with a new CEO and several key hires on C-suit level. Together, we also strengthened each department with additional team members with knowledge of everything from social media marketing, purchasing of antique rugs to front end development.

 
  • Lead for change

  • One of several important value creation initiatives Litorina identified in 2015 was the potential to improve RugVista’s sustainability efforts and lead the market development within the rug category. During our ownership, a dedicated CSR manager was hired, RugVista became members of fair and sustainable trade communities amfori BSCI and Label Step, we established collaboration with local organizations making a positive impact on the broader communities such as Care & Fair in India and we initiated regular audits of suppliers. Even if there is always more that can be done, we are very proud of the RugVista team’s ambition to lead for change within the sustainability arena and all they have achieved to date.

 
  • Creating a category leader

  • The global rug industry is a huge market but in 2015 there were few dedicated companies selling rugs online. Since then, RugVista has developed into a leading player in Europe. Over the holding period, RugVista evolved its business model more and more into a direct-to-consumer model as more focus was steered towards the proprietary assortment of rugs. The company has a vast network of sourcing suppliers, localized web shops in 20 languages, sales to both private individuals and business customers, relationships with external marketplaces such as Amazon that sells RugVista’s products and overall generate more than 33 million visits annually. What really sets RugVista apart is the data driven culture that encompasses all commercial decision processes in the company including e.g. marketing.

 

Result.

In March 2021, Litorina listed RugVista on Nasdaq First North Premier Growth Market. One of RugVista’s core values that CEO Michael Lindskog often refers to is to “Focus on impact”. This is something we believe the team really has delivered upon.

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