High profiles: visions and concepts for dedicated customer-target projects
Portrait
“Arcansas was basically born of a dream,” explains Export Sales Manager Antonella Cardellicchio. “It was Stelio Scriattoli who founded the company in a garage in 1981.” He knew the market and its special requirements very well and had clear business ideas in mind. His aim was to add something special to a simple product such as a profile, to give it an innovative touch, always in accordance with market needs.
Back then, screw fixings dominated the flooring profiles market in Italy. Instead of screws, Arcansas introduced non-removable and impermeable adhesives, which were applied to the profile while hot to form a strong and permanent bond, even in wet surroundings such as bathrooms or kitchens.
This new fixing system, based on ready-to-use adhesives, was a brand-new innovation and extremely successful. “Innovation and challenges are our matrix,” underlines Ms. Cardellicchio.
Arcansas then started to concentrate also on ceramic profiles and soon became well-known for offering a wide range, both basic and highly decorative. At the end of the 1990s, Amedeo Scriattoli finally followed in his father’s footsteps and became Managing Director of Arcansas.
Step by step, he expanded the product portfolio by adding DIY aluminium, stainless-steel, brass and iron profiles to the already comprehensive range, thus entering the hardware market. As a result, Arcansas became a much sought-after partner for hardware stores and home improvement retailers in Italy.
In 2000, Arcansas started cooperating with Leroy Merlin, a major player in the global DIY market, which was an important step and resulted in further growth. Together with Mr. Merlin, the company worked on a project to develop its first dedicated retail project.
In the decade to follow, Arcansas became the national leader in the Italian home improvement sector. So in 2010, to establish interesting international contacts, the company started to participate in and sponsor the European Home Improvement Forum.
Thanks to that cooperation, Arcansas – together with Organizzazione Orandelli – launched the start-up Made4Diy in 2014, the first Italian consortium for Italian producers for DIY, in order to share the best European practices in the DIY market and to focus on international prospects for DIY products made in Italy.
As a result, the company has entered several European markets in the last five years, such as Scandinavia, France, Spain and Germany, and this year partnerships with some strategic partners in South America and South Africa are being established.
Arcansas’s product range includes a comprehensive array of profiles for walls, floors, kitchens and bathrooms, for any DIY or renovation project at home. Among the products are PVC and metal round-edge trims, hygienic cover trims, square-edge trims, decorative joints, expansion joints, cover strips, stair edgings, parquet trims, non-slip tapes and spacers for tiles.
In the hardware sector, it offers flats, angles, tubes and bars in several dimensions and finishes. “We wanted to enrich our profiles with a decorative finish and value for our partners and for end-users,” adds Ms. Cardellicchio. “We consider our products to be elements of modern furniture design. Arcansas for example was the first to introduce a mirror-effect aluminium profile with a real reflecting effect, which was very positively received by the market and became a real bestseller both in the tile profiles range and the hardware profiles range – where women users especially are underestimated.”
Today, Arcansas is synonymous with competitive profiles and a strict customer orientation. “We always try to work out complete concepts that are far beyond standard,” emphasizes Ms. Cardellicchio. “This is a complex and challenging process including analyzing, model creating and testing, which in general takes one year in strong partnership with the retailer. We listen, we share, we work out the best concept, which is the only one for our partner.”
Arcansas started exporting in times of crisis. Today, the company has a workforce of more than 60 employees. The third generation is already at work with Mr. Federico Scriattoli, and revenues amount to 15 million EUR, with double-digit growth every year since 2011. The company has seven area managers, 39 agents in Italy and almost 50 in France, Spain and Germany, and 50% of its products are distributed abroad.
Well-known chains such as Adeo, OBI, MrBricolage, Hubo, JimandFix and Bricogroup sell Arcansas profiles. “Our story is about feeding all our partnerships. We bring to our partners much more than products. We share with them our whole legacy,” Ms. Cardellicchio concludes.