Third generation firm posts record turnover
Family carpet business CarpetRunners.com has announced international expansion plans after posting record turnover during 2017.
The third-generation company, which started with a carpet shop in Grimsby, will expand into 20 countries over the next two years, adding to its UK and US operations.
The business, led by managing director Myles Shaw, turned over £2m last year and has targeted £10m turnover by 2021 through sales of carpet runners, for use in hallways and staircases. It will add France, Germany, Australia and Canada to its list by the end of the year.
The plans come following a whirlwind seven years for the business, which now employs 10 people and began as an offshoot of the shop Shaw’s family had run since 1945.
They used technology to accelerate the business’s growth and its profile soared when Shaw and his three brothers began posting pictures and videos on social media.
Shaw said: “CarpetRunners.com has grown year on year and the time is right for us to continue that expansion abroad. When we started using social media to promote the business we were just four brothers being ourselves and people seemed to like it. There has been a lot of hard work in the background, though, and when I worked 16-hour days in the early days of the business I was working every minute. All that effort was worth it and we’re ambitious and excited about what the future holds for CarpetRunners.com.”
CarpetRunners.com began when Shaw, then aged 23, was working for his father’s GCW (Grimsby Carpet Warehouse). Needing to earn an extra £100 per week to support his family, he began buying and selling sim cards and car performance chips on eBay, before turning his attentions to carpet runners.
He was soon exceeding his £100 target and flying around Europe to source new colours and designs. The turning point came when his father challenged him with making £10,000 per week. He reached his target within six months and he soon left the GCW business and set up on his own, working 16 hours every day to make CarpetRunners.com a success.
When his father reached retirement age, the two businesses merged and Shaw decided to bring in a new image with the help of social media.
