Founded in 2007 by Bruno Zago and Luca Lazzarotto, World Cart emerged from Moncart experience, historical company of the 1960s, the first in Italy to have produced tissue napkins, from which the productive pole and the operating division have been maintained.
The partners’ goal was to rebuild World Cart, primarily through restructuring, and to diversify its production base to far more than the classic, white tissue production.
Today, the company earns 13 million EUR and employs 30 people at its headquarters in Persico Dosimo in northern Italy. World Cart was not the first company in the world to adopt licensing as a primary means of sales – it is a worldwide phenomenon – but the company is one of the first tissue products producers to have almost all of its revenues coming from licensed products.
“Other people simply make tissues; we make creative accessories,” Mr. Lazzarotto says. “Our customers believe their tissues are not just tissues. They are personal articles in a very fun and attractive package.”
World Cart’s first licensing agreement allowed it to develop products featuring the Japanese brand Hello Kitty. The company approached the project as if it were tackling high fashion design. “We Italians are known for our creativity and World Cart has transformed a simple product into a fashion article,” Mr. Lazzarotto says.
This approach has allowed the company to forge partnerships with the creators of characters like Marvel’s Spider-Man, the Smurfs, Tom & Jerry and Angry Birds. World Cart sells its products to all the large supermarket chains, including Aldi, Carrefour, Auchan and others.
It currently exports 70% of its products, reaching markets in more than 30 countries such as: China, Australia, South Africa, Indonesia, India, Argentina and Columbia. “Europe is important for us, but we have had interesting feedback from our partners outside Europe,” Mr. Lazzarotto attests.
The company also reaches customers through drugstores, chains and an online store. Roughly 50% of its business is pocket tissues, followed by box tissues (10%), toilet paper, towels and napkins. With the constant arrival of new licenses and the launch of its Angry Birds products, World Cart is set to be carried, along with its products, to the next global level.
