The Sit-in story

Launching a new e-commerce can be an enormous challenge, because it is not enough to sell quality products, build a fast, well-optimised website and offer tempting launch promotions.

If you do not create an excellent browsing experience, if you are not recognisable and do not convey your deepest identity, it will be very difficult to build a bond with your audience and lead them to choose your products.

So how do you do it? The secret is working on the brand and on a solid marketing strategy. Here is what we designed for our client Sit-in.

Sit-in is a brand whose essence is rooted in the heart of the Italian textile industry. An integral part of the Radici Pietro Industries & Brands Spa group, it represents a love affair with textiles spanning more than 70 years. A story that began back in 1950, when Pietro Radici, armed with two looms and a small spinning mill, founded Tappetificio Nazionale Radici. Since then the company has followed a path of growth and innovation, always keeping craftsmanship and attention to detail alive.

Today, Sit-in is a symbol of Italian manufacturing excellence. The company is constantly engaged in the search for new technologies and innovations to make its products ever greener and more sustainable. The passion with which its textiles are made, the choice of traceable, high-quality raw materials and its commitment to sustainability are just some of the reasons that make Sit-in a brand to be trusted.

Sit-in is not simply a manufacturer of textile flooring. It is a brand that tells a story, a tradition, a passion. A story that continues to evolve, always looking to the future, but never forgetting its roots.

When Sit-in came to us, it arrived with a series of challenges that went well beyond simply building a website. The first and most obvious was the absence of any online presence: despite having a recognised brand, the company had no website through which to reach and engage with its customers. That was a significant limitation, particularly in an era in which digitisation is becoming ever more central to many companies’ business strategy.

But the problem was not only technological. The brand itself needed revisiting. This was not a matter of a simple graphic restyling but of a genuine rebranding. The brand had to be renewed and relaunched in a way that reflected the company’s evolution and its future ambitions, with a strategy and a market position.

Being an entirely new project, there was also the challenge of identifying new markets beyond Italy. That required a thorough understanding of the sector, of global trends and of the specific opportunities in different markets.

Finally, it was not enough simply to launch a new website and a new brand; it was essential to accompany that launch with a well-planned, focused communication strategy.

• Strategic analysis

In the digital age, a company’s online presence is fundamental to its success. A SWOT analysis highlighted the company’s strengths: its long history, its sector know-how and the quality of its manufacturing.

Despite strong online demand for rugs, with monthly searches averaging a million, the online environment is highly competitive. With hundreds of competitors among both manufacturers and retailers, it was essential that Sit-in treat the online channel not merely as a means of distribution but as an ecosystem able to meet its customers’ specific requirements.

The buyer personas also provided valuable insight into the needs and expectations of prospective customers. That information is fundamental to developing an effective communication and marketing strategy and to ensuring the Sit-in e-commerce meets its customers’ requirements. Competitor analysis further underlined the importance of positioning the brand as an authoritative name in the sector, drawing on Sit-in’s know-how and reputation.

• A rebranding strategy for Sit-in

The rebranding strategy for Sit-in was carefully developed to reflect its history, its values and its vision, while ensuring the brand is relevant and distinctive in today’s digital market.

Sit-in’s vision is to “transform spaces into a unique experience to be lived”. The company’s mission is to create designer rugs that enhance personal spaces and reflect the company’s identity. Sit-in is also strongly committed to sustainability, investing in technology and aiming at products with the smallest possible environmental impact.

The name chosen, “Sit-in”, is a nod to the past, evoking a historic brand already recognised in Italy among consumers over 30 and 40. That choice was intended to bring a vintage brand back to market, drawing on its familiarity and on the know-how built up over more than 70 years. The name brought together the company’s expertise in textile flooring and its experience in the sports sector with synthetic turf.

The logo, which dated back to the 1970s, was revisited by us to suit modern times while retaining its distinctive character.

The payoff, finally, is an element we considered crucial to the brand’s communication, distilling the company’s promise and vision into a few words. For Sit-in, the payoff we chose was “Step in your future”, reflecting the company’s forward-looking outlook, its dedication to sustainability and the idea of moving towards a better future.

• Marketing and communication plan

Our marketing and communication strategy for Sit-in was a well-judged mix of preparation, promotion and consolidation, with the aim of positioning the brand strongly in the market and building lasting relationships with customers. The key was detailed planning and the effective use of various marketing channels.

Two months before launch we began our preparatory phase, concentrating on creating social profiles, developing a landing page and identifying key influencers. During the teasing phase we offered gifts to the first subscribers and worked with influencers to generate interest around the brand.

Taking part in the Salone del Mobile in Milan was a high point of our strategy, serving as the ideal showcase for the e-commerce launch and for marking Sit-in’s return to the consumer market.

After launch, our marketing activity intensified, with the aim of consolidating the brand’s position and building lasting relationships with customers. We used a combination of channels, including social media, search engines and email marketing, to reach our target audience.

• Building the e-commerce

When we took on the Sit-in project, we were determined to create an online buying experience that reflected the quality and excellence of their rugs and synthetic turf.

In the design process we paid particular attention to the site’s aesthetics and design. We selected high-quality images, attending to every detail.

One of our main priorities was to emphasise sustainability. We recognised how important that value is to Sit-in and wanted it to shine through in every part of the site. We underlined the brand’s commitment to protecting the local environment and to adopting sustainable technologies, answering the expectations of modern consumers, who are increasingly environmentally aware.

We also worked on how to present Sit-in’s extensive product catalogue. With over 15,000 variants available, it was essential that customers could navigate easily and find what they were looking for. Our solution was to create an intuitive, user-friendly interface.

One of the most original features we implemented was the made-to-measure rug configurator. That functionality gave customers the ability to customise rugs to their own requirements.

We also integrated multilingual options in order to reach a wider customer base, and launched an online magazine to provide valuable content and engage users further. Finally, we optimised the site with SEO in mind, making sure it reached the right people at the right time.

In its first year of operation, the Sit-in site achieved remarkable results, demonstrating the strength and effectiveness of the strategies implemented. Total users recorded an impressive increase of +1,972.9%, with sessions and page views following a similar trajectory, growing by +2,133.8% and +2,178.9% respectively compared with the previous site, which had carried B2B-oriented content. Those numbers speak for themselves, showing the considerable interest the site attracted.

One of the most notable observations was users’ preference for mobile access, with 85.5% choosing that route, underlining the importance of a responsive, user-friendly design. Saturdays in particular saw a peak in visits, perhaps reflecting consumers’ shopping habits.

Analysis of keywords and organic traffic revealed a steady increase in organic keywords, with rankings in the top 10 strengthening particularly. That contributed significantly to improving the site’s visibility and consolidating its presence in the market.

Google Search Console data further confirmed the success of our strategies. Italy, as the primary market, dominated in terms of traffic, underlining the brand’s resonance at home.

Finally, after launch, the sales metrics and results highlighted a number of notable strengths. The site recorded an impressive number of product views, demonstrating the interest and curiosity of the audience reached through the communication and online advertising activity.