Ersoy Şiveydinli: “Every crisis is an opportunity for companies to renew themselves.”

Angora Carpets is a newly-found company but its founders come from a long tradition of carpet and rug weaving. When Angora Carpets was officially founded in 2001, the company aimed to grow in foreign markets more than the domestic market. Following this aim, Angora Carpets, has been exporting almost all of its products. USA, Australia, Austria, Germany, Japan, Italy, Poland, Slovakia, Ukraine, Saudi Arabia, Kuwait, England, Portugal, Canada, Greece and Spain are among the countries that Angora Carpets export its products to. Company chairman of board Mr. Ersoy Şiveydinli talked to us about the company\'s successful operations and shared his thoughts about the industry.

Could you please share your thoughts about today\'s carpet industry during the global financial crisis?

It\'s a serious fact that the world is dealing with financial crisis at the moment. Unlike the one we had in 2001, this crisis effects everybody. Back in 2001, exporter companies could create new opportunities abroad but now the origin of the crisis is in the USA and England and that\'s why our country will be more effected. I believe there will be a turn around at the first quarter of 2009 however our company is making plans for worst case scenarios.

At this stage, instead of making plans for development, we tend to keep our assets. And that\'s why we will act according to a revised plan where we can keep our budgets the same as before in order to save assets.

So what kind of business behaviour should be shown at the moment?

Instead of panicking and moving backwards, companies should revise their business plans and continue to move forward. If we talk about our carpet sector, I believe the most important thing is to revise plans in order to develop business and work healthy in manufacturing. We need to check and control our labor and inventory and more importantly, we need to pay extra attention to product development. Because the valuable consumer becomes even more vaulable in today\'s market during crisis. Here\'s the question: ‘How can we get a share at this limited market?\'. Since we can\'t continue like nothing has happened, we need to take action by renewing ourselves. Of course marketing is so important at this point. Because it\'s really hard to steal market share, the only way to survive is marketing.

It\'s not right to predict that only small companies will be effected by the crisis and big ones will stand still. Either small or big, every company that doesn\'t have proper marketing and the right product, will be effected. Exporter companies should care about the global criterion. Any company that can\'t steal market share will be having hard times.

At this point what do you think about trade fairs?

Fairs become more valuable for manufacturers like us. In the past it was easier to find the consumer but now we need to promote ourselves more in order to steal share from a small market. Now there are less consumers who are more selective. That\'s why we should care about marketing more than ever. It\'s important to give the message as; ‘”We continue manufacturing”.

How do you get ready for the fair in Germany?

Like every year, we work hard to get ready for Domotex. Our aim is to be ready by mid December. We\'d like to follow up on trends at the fair. We have prepared new products with five different qualities especially for Germany. Depending on the feedbacks we might be getting over there, we\'ll either revise or continue to manufacture.

Will there be another collection for the fair in İstanbul?

Of course there will be a new collection especially prepared for Eurasia Floor in Istanbul because the trends and fashion in the carpet industry develop real quick. Since we\'ll have a bigger stand at the fair in ‹stanbul, we\'ll have more products. I also believe ‹stanbul is becoming more valuable for the industry. Each year, we witness serious increase of visitors and exhibitors.

Do you have any suggestions or messages to your dealers about dealing with the crisis better?

With this crisis, money became more important and valuable. It\'d be so wrong to try developing using bank loans. That\'s why I suggest them to be even more sober and act upon strict business plans where the expenses are controlled, costs are analyzed and inventories are checked seriously.

Stock costs are very important and it\'s a must to keep the stocks at an optimum level. They should not run in the red while serving the consumer.

I also advise them not to keep any extra stocks. We do the same thing with our raw materails. Our dealer friends should not keep stock just because they believe it would be sold. We need to have a certain amount of stocks to run this business. Our dealers must act with patience and not panic at all. This crisis can\'t go on forever and will stop at some point. Then there will be a relief and our aim should be a part of this relief. The consumption in the world never goes down to zero. The problem is to find an opportunity in a limited market and steal the market share. Besides the companies which can go through these type of crisis and yet be able to survive, are the ones that attain their states.