// Tapi Carpets announces new goal to become UK’s leading carpet & flooring operator within next five years
// The retailer has 137 shops in the UK
Tapi Carpets shareholders including Lord Harris of Peckham have injected £16 million into the carpet retailer to support it during its battle with rival Carpetright.
The retailer, which has 137 shops, recruited James Sturrock, 51, the former boss of Eve Sleep, as chief executive last month.
It is understood that the £16 million comprises £9 million of fresh equity and £7 million of debt.
READ MORE: Tapi Carpets hires ex-Eve Sleep CEO James Sturrock as new boss
Tapi Carpets said it aims to become the UK’s leading carpet and flooring operator within the next five years.
Since being founded in 2015 by Martin Harris, Tapi Carpets has launch a fleet of mobile showrooms and has built out a 137 nationwide store estate from zero to over £100 million of annual revenues.
As an essential homewares retailer, Tapi Carpets was the first in the category to
commence the reopening of its stores from May 11, following a “comprehensive and
detailed review” of procedures to ensure the safety of both team members and customers.
The retailer said its response to the Covid-19 pandemic includes “innovating at speed to adapt to the changing environment”.
“Tapi has introduced industry first ‘Video Appointments’ bringing the showroom experience to customers sofas, through a video link to a manager in a physical store, who is able to show product, discuss requirements and take orders,” the retailer said.
In June, Tapi reopened virtually all of its UK estate and introduced a “Queue Buster” which allows customers to text a store or scan a QR code to their smart phone to book an appointment without queuing.
Harris said: “It is a credit to the whole Tapi team that, even at the most difficult of times, we have been able to innovate at speed in order to maintain close engagement with our customers.”
“New innovations including the video appointments have proved so popular that they will remain a permanent feature of our offering to customers.”
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