CASE STUDY · GROWTH PARTNER · SHOPIFY · OPERATOR
Mai Rugs
“We didn't take a retainer. We took half the company.”
Premium Moroccan rugs. ZEU owns 50% and runs the full operator stack — artisan sourcing, contracts, logistics out of Africa, customs and tax diligence, and the paid growth engine.
- Shopify 2.0
- Custom Liquid sections
- Klaviyo
- Meta + Google ads stack
The brief
Mai Rugs is a premium Moroccan rug brand we co-own. ZEU owns 50% of the business and operates everything outside the loom: sourcing artisans in Morocco, negotiating contracts, handling logistics out of Africa, managing customs and tax diligence, and running the paid marketing engine. The brief here isn't a build deliverable. It's the whole operating company.
What we did
- Sourced artisans in Morocco and negotiated production contracts
- Built the logistics chain out of Africa, including customs, duties, and tax diligence
- Built the Shopify storefront with heritage-led product pages and trust signals
- Run a £3,500 per month paid marketing engine at 7.69x ROAS
- Own 50% of the company as an operating partner, not a vendor
The numbers
7.69x
Paid ROAS
£3.5k
Monthly ad spend
50%
ZEU equity
Gallery
/images/work/mairugs/01.jpg
Mai Rugs gallery 1/images/work/mairugs/02.jpg
Mai Rugs gallery 2/images/work/mairugs/03.jpg
Mai Rugs gallery 3/images/work/mairugs/04.jpg
Mai Rugs gallery 4What we said no to
- Heavy carousel hero — slow and dated for a premium heritage product.
- Loyalty popups on entry — premium brands don't beg.
Stack
- Shopify 2.0
- Custom Liquid sections
- Klaviyo
- Meta + Google ads stack
Want something like this?
30 minutes, no pitch deck.