From attic to showroom

You never know where a vacation cycling trip can lead. In May 2003, Jeroen Slokker, key account manager at Dell, accidentally discovers a relatively unknown Turkish peninsula: Datca. The landscape captivates his eye. Shortly after, he shows his wife Ebru his "discovery." The couple decides to invest in a vacation home. They set their sights on an old olive oil factory, which was eventually transformed into VillaOlivio. For years, they fly back and forth three or four times a year, spending several weeks each time working on the property and keeping the contractor busy.

During one of these “work visits” to the olive oil factory, Jeroen stumbles upon a small, dark shop filled with old rugs. Among the piles, he finds about two hundred rose kilims. Old kilims from Moldova, with large flowers in a variety of colors. "Beautiful stuff. I felt like trying it in the Netherlands, but the very old owner wasn’t interested in the hassle of exporting."

The shop where It all began

Sotheby’s and Christies
The rose kilims stay with Jeroen. When he returns on a later visit and finds that all the kilims have been sold to Sotheby’s and Christies, nothing holds him back. He searches for a supplier, buys five rugs, and lists them on Marktplaats.

"Then something mysterious happened," says the trader. "The door was constantly busy, but no one bought anything. I asked everyone for the reason. What turned out? Everyone loved my rugs, but when it came down to it, the color scheme or size didn’t quite match their expectations."

The first Rose Kilims still traveled with me in the suitcase...

Marktplaats
A valuable lesson. "I had to provide more choices. My supplier sent 60 kilims on consignment, and I set up a simple website. I also advertised on Marktplaats and signed up for the home fair. That was in October 2010. From that moment, things took off."

Stylists
Sales kept picking up. "The home fair was a good move. Many people come there for inspiration for their renovation plans. They may not buy anything at the time, but they take your card. That fair gave me visibility and a steady stream of clientele. What also helped was the massive presence of stylists at the fair. They started using my rugs more and more for their mood reports and shopping pages."

The next breakthrough came thanks to a tip from a colleague. "A lot has changed in the last three years. When I was at the fair, no one bought online. But as soon as I added Ideal to my website, orders started flooding in. I joined the Stichting Thuiswinkel Waarborg. It's expensive and has high requirements, like a 100% money-back guarantee, but I highly recommend it. I also started offering free shipping, and my terms are more flexible than what Thuiswinkel Waarborg demands of me. Why? No one should be able to do it better than I do."

Quit the job
The sales explosion that followed required drastic measures. The family moved to Overveen. From the basement of King Willem III’s summer palace, Jeroen’s rugs were sent all over the world. Two years after starting Rozenkelim.nl, he quit his job. He had a professional webshop built.

How does Jeroen explain his success? Flexible sales terms, paying via invoice, and free shipping aren’t the only factors, he admits. "I have a huge inventory and offer competitive prices. I get a lot of free publicity, advertise on Marktplaats, and through AdWords, and I’m very happy with the opportunities Facebook marketing offers me. But the most important thing, of course, is the quality of my products. My rugs are between thirty and eighty years old and retain their value. In fact, they’re worth much more than the six Berber rugs I ask seven hundred euros for. For that money, they are restored, cleaned, transported... you can do the math." That’s where most of the costs are, not in buying the kilims. And all of them are old, unique kilims.

Growth
The product range has expanded significantly. Patchwork rugs, vintage rugs from Morocco, antique Persian carpets, and more recently, vintage-look rugs. All the rugs, except for the replicas, share a few things in common—they are unique and old. This can range from 5 years old to sometimes as much as 150 years old.

"By now, we’ve built a network in countries like Moldova, Morocco, and Turkey with reliable suppliers. We buy directly from the source. This has many advantages. It gives us first pick, and we can choose the best examples. We can also indicate exactly what we want, and they will search for it. Additionally, the rugs are not unnecessarily expensive for the consumer because there are no middlemen."

Showroom in haarlem
The basement in Overveen quickly became too small, and Jeroen was asked to set up a large showroom in Hillegom (note, our showroom is now in Haarlem) with his rugs. "Of course, I was happy to do that, on the condition that I could keep my inventory there. Since every rug is unique, I want to keep the stock in just one place."

The showroom has proven to be a real addition and has greatly contributed to the company's growth. "When people call us, we always say: order the rug online, we offer free delivery and a money-back guarantee if you're not satisfied. The great advantage is that you can assess the rug in the spot where it’s meant to go, which is different from seeing it in our showroom."

"Some customers still want to see and feel the rug before purchasing, and we completely understand that—it’s a significant amount of money you're spending," says Jeroen. René has now joined Jeroen’s team. René is responsible for the showroom and the logistical part of website orders. Jeroen focuses primarily on purchasing, the website, and advertising campaigns.

Always moving forward at Rozenkelim
"Our new website has just gone live—it was a tough process, but we are very happy with the result. In the coming period, we will continue to optimize the website. There’s still a lot to be done. We’re implementing fun and useful tools to make online shopping even easier for the customer. Additionally, we want to significantly improve the quality of the photos. We’ve made space in the showroom for a photo studio, and once it’s finished, every rug will be photographed again… so plenty of work to do!"