The Unbearable Lightness of Selling Carpets Online

What we call a carpet often looks like a decor product laid in the center of the house. But in reality, a carpet is a patterned weaving of experiences, culture, the collective memory of a geography. Perhaps that's why selling it online feels like a strange contradiction in itself. Trying to explain something that we are used to selecting by touch with two photographs on the screen... It is both light and difficult at the same time.

In recent years, the carpet industry has been undergoing a digital transformation all over the world. Today, someone living in Europe or the USA can place an order on their phone in the evening and find a brand new carpet at their doorstep a few days later. Platforms such as Amazon, Rugs USA and Wayfair have made hundreds of thousands of products instantly accessible. Instead of going to the store and spending hours, people now prefer to renew the style of their home with a few clicks.

In a way, this convenience has created an era in which even a heavy product like a carpet has become “unbearably light”. The path from manufacturer to consumer is shorter than ever. Warehouses, fulfillment solutions, accelerated logistics systems... It's as if everything has turned selling carpets online into a piece of cake.

But when you look behind the scenes, you realize that this lightness is actually not so light. Because moving a carpet to the digital showcase doesn't end with just sticking the shipping label. On the contrary, it requires a whole new mindset.

First, one is reminded of this simple but burning truth: Carpet is a tactile experience. We want to understand its thickness, softness, texture by touch. The customer looking through a screen always carries a doubt. Is the color just like this? Is it soft? Is what I will see when the cargo is opened the same as I imagined? That's why return rates are high and customer persuasion processes are long.

And then there's the logistics. Carpets are bulky, heavy and laborious to transport. Especially in international shipments, costs increase rapidly. On top of that, online sales can turn into a nightmare for most producers when “if the product is not liked, it should be returned” is added.

Another layer is competition. Even a country like Turkey, which is strong in production, is often silent in digital showcases. While brands such as Benuta in Europe match the carpet with a lifestyle, we still remain in the catalog logic with the hope that “we have a nice product, it will sell somehow”. However, the digital customer does not just look at the visuals; they are looking for a story, experience and convenience.

That's why selling carpets online is more complicated than it seems. Yes, we have production power. Yes, we have quality. But the rules of digital are different. It is no longer enough just to produce the product; you need to turn that product into a modern story.

The online sales volume that has been growing all over the world in recent years shows this very clearly. The online turnover of carpet in the global market is increasing year by year. It is predicted that the total volume of the sector will exceed 52 billion dollars in 2025. But Turkey usually takes a back seat in this story. This is because we have not learned how to brand, narrativize and carry our production muscle to the next generation experience.

At the point we have reached today, selling carpets online is as much a test as it is an opportunity. Behind this lightness lies a very heavy issue:

Finding the courage to tell our own story.

Perhaps the real challenge is to put the carpet at the center of life, not just on the floor.