FloorCoveringNews

Providing home design enthusiasts across the country with inspiration and an easy way to save their favorite ideas, Shaw Floors, the world’s largest carpet manufacturer and a leading flooring provider, is pleased to announce the launch of its official presence on Pinterest, an online community that allows users to save photos by “pinning” them to theme boards that are shared with other users of the site. Having already established a network of nearly 70,000 engaged consumers on the Shaw Floors Facebook page, Shaw is excited to extend its social media outreach to Pinterest’s expanding base of more than 17 million users – the majority of which are women. 

Dalton — Customers of Tandus Flooring’s Powerbond believe so much in a hybrid resilient sheet flooring, the company is launching a two pronged campaign to showcase the product’s unique attributes. The campaign rewards “Believers” of Powerbond with a chance to win $1000 a month through an online submission form, and for those who are not yet Believers, the campaign offers a chance to qualify for a free classroom mock up.

The I’m a Believer” campaign launched with Gaelynn Pippin, President of Edge Design in Chicago, the first of four featured “Believers.”  Pippin’s message was promoted using print, email and web communication and it is clear..she’s a believer! Following Pippin, Tandus Flooring will feature other “Believers” that represent architecture, facility management and school administration.

by Matthew Spieler

In recent years, manufacturing has gotten to the point where some low-end products have a high-end look and feel. This is especially true in laminate. In fact, there are products that if brought back in time to just 10 years ago, they would qualify as mid- to high-end goods. So what’s a retailer to do to show consumers the differences between a quality product and one constructed not to perform very well?

by Kelly Kramer

Early on in my sales career I decided if I had to use negative and deceptive closing tactics, I would have to find a different profession.

Everything I was taught was to “never stop asking for the sale.” Terms like “over come the objection and close.” Then repeat that until the customer said yes or walked out. Another was “ABC: Always Be Closing.” Basically meaning that you never give your customer any information without it ending with a closing question. For example: If I could get you the upgraded eight pound pad at no additional charge, would you buy today?

New floating LVT employs Uniclic locking system

Norwalk, Conn.—Anyone who attended Surfaces couldn’t help but notice the onslaught of luxury vinyl tile products utilizing the increasingly popular locking systems. Ironically, many of the companies introducing these products were not resilient suppliers but rather laminate and/or wood manufacturers.

One of the few pure resilient suppliers that took the wraps off its new click LVT was Metroflor, which introduced Engage at a cocktail party honoring its top distributors. What separated Engage from the masses was while others introduced a product, Metroflor came to the table with a full program.

There are many factors to consider when designing and developing a retail website. The list can seem endless, but in reality, if you look carefully, you’ll see there are certain elements more important than others—elements that are used consistently among the most successful retail websites.

Once you have completed the planning stages of your website, the rest of the elements fall into broad categories, ranging from user interface design to content creation to actual development. Of course, you also have to keep search engine optimization (SEO) in mind.

by Warren Tyler

My feeling has always been to listen to criticism, try to accept it and change for the better.

Anytime I find something I think that will make the industry more efficient, I write or speak about it. For instance, while I believe that our manufacturers make beautiful and practical flooring, I do see issues.

by Melissa McGuire

Lancaster, Pa.—Armstrong has come into 2012 loaded with significant introductions in its laminate and hardwood portfolios along with a focus on its 2011 Altera Reserve intros that are just now gaining traction in the marketplace.

With luxury vinyl tile all the rage these days, Armstrong believes Alterna and its step-up Alterna Reserve offer the best visuals on the market. As such, the company is positioning these collections not versus competing LVT but rather the real thing—the stones they emulate, according to Allen Cubell, vice president of residential resilient products.

by Louis Iannoco

As technology has allowed manufacturers to become more innovative than ever, one flooring segment that has benefited arguably as much as any is luxury vinyl tile (LVT). Its state-of-the-art designs allow suppliers to make the surface of the finished product consistently mimic the real thing. But, according to executives, this is just one of the many reasons why this segment is enjoying growth in both sales and popularity.

by Emily J. Cappiello

During the past few years, nylon has been losing market share to polyester in the residential carpet fiber market. While nylon remains the top dog in the commercial segment, industry insiders predict that the shift toward the use of polyester on the residential side will continue during the next few years.

“Solution-dyed polyester is continuing to experience strong growth in the first quarter of 2012 at the expense of nylon,” said James Lesslie, assistant to the chairman, DreamWeaver/Engineered Floors. “If you look at the worldwide marketplace in synthetic fiber, polyester is a 90 billion pound marketplace and nylon is a 6 billion pound marketplace.”

COMMUNITY PRIDE: Here’s a heartwarming, Small Town, USA, story where the floor is the centerpiece of the tale. White Lake, Wis., is a tiny town—population is less than 400—in the northeast part of the state. As FCNews was going to press, the community was holding the groundbreaking of a $3.5 million community recreation center at the White Lake School building. Its gymnasium floor will truly be a one-of-a-kind, unique floor thanks to 90 cords of hard maple logs donated by local residents from their land. The idea was spawned by resident Todd Lambert who said he was thinking about ways to get people involved in the project after it had passed a referendum.

Shanghai—Two years ago, Flooring Industries introduced the License To Clic (L2C) program (FCNews, April 19/26, 2010) to distinguish those companies that are legally licensed to use its patented intellectual properties from those that are infringing on its patents. During the recent Domotex asia/ChinaFloor show here (FCNews, April 2/9), the company announced as of April 1, all licensees, even those with cross-license agreements, must incorporate a specially designed sticker on product boxes which signifies their affiliation.

by Steven Feldman

When I first sought out the schedule for the National Wood Flooring Association convention last week in Orlando, Fla., I noticed that Ken Schmidt was delivering the keynote speech. I didn’t recognize the name, but when I saw he was the former director of communications for Harley- Davidson, I expected another one of those Zig Ziglar-esque motivational speeches. I couldn’t have been more wrong. Not only was his address on brand building and corporate positioning compelling, but there was a lot for attendees to take back to their businesses. A few nuggets:

New York—Brazilian exotic hardwood flooring manufacturer IndusParquet recently made its mark in the Big Apple with its custom booth at the Architectural Digest Home Show (AD Show). The annual four-day event attracted more than 40,000 home design enthusiasts and professionals.

Washington—Recently, a group of carpet industry executives along with members of the Dalton-Whitfield Chamber of Commerce traveled to the nation’s capitol for the Carpet & Rug Institute’s (CRI) annual “Hill Visits and Legislative Reception.”

Designed to give carpet and area business leaders the opportunity to speak directly with lawmakers about pressing issues, the two-day visit saw the delegation visit 25 congressional offices representing a half dozen states and host a reception in the Capitol Visitor’s Center for more than 75 congressional members and their staff.

by Steven Feldman

Orlando, Fla.—Just about a year into Michael Martin’s reign as CEO of the National Wood Flooring Association (NWFA), the organization is embarking on more initiatives than it ever has, ironically with less staff. And it comes at a time when business is picking up. That fact was illustrated at the association’s recent convention here, which saw a 40% increase in attendance and 100 more booths than last year.

“We are getting a sense things are much better than what we’ve been seeing recently,” Martin said. “Everyone has had a good first quarter. Contractors are telling us they’re busy. It’s being driven by pent-up demand. Consumers are ready to spend. And flooring has been the one thing put on hold through the recession.”

by Steven Feldman

Ahaheim, Calif.—The World Floor Covering Association (WFCA) is urging floor covering retailers, distributors and manufacturers to throw their support behind the Marketplace Fairness Act. The proposed bipartisan legislation, also known as Senate Bill 1832, is designed to level the playing field between brick-and-mortar retailers and Internet or e-commerce sellers.

DALTON — The perfect luxury design solution has never been more attainable. Karastan is extending a strong consumer rebate offer as part of its semi-annual National Karastan Month sales event. The rebate encompasses many of Karastan’s design-driven broadloom and rug styles, and includes Karastan’s premier wool, SmartStrand with DuPont Sorona, Wear-Dated and Stainmaster fibers. Consumers can earn up to $1,000 cash back on select styles during the celebration, which takes place April 18^th through May 30^th. 

Flexco has finally arrived on the scene of social media. Check out the company’s Facebook page at http://www.facebook.com/FlexcoFloors and Twitter at https://twitter.com/#!/FlexcoFloors .  You can also see these pages by clicking on the links added to the company website at www.flexcofloors.com. 

The nation’s third largest floor covering manufacturer announced changes in its management structure, effective immediately. These changes reflect Beaulieu’s continued plan to strengthen and grow its position in the market following its securing a $230 million loan refinance package in October of last year and a string of successes with major accounts and industry awards since Surfaces.

The UK-based trend-forecasting agency Trend Bible began working on its autumn/winter 2012/2013 in early 2011. The experts observed social, economical, cultural and consumer behavior to build a picture of what they thought the future might look like. What they found is the resurgence of “casually styled” spaces, where decor is mismatched yet sentimental and where tactile handmade goods take center stage. Learn more about these four trends on the horizon below.

Performance Plus, Armstrong Commercial Flooring’s newest hardwood collection, offers superior durability, added scratch-resistance and Lock&Fold technology for easy installations, blending the exquisite styling of natural hardwood with the enhanced performance needed in today’s demanding commercial environments.

Dalton — J+J/Invision announces the addition of DigiSample, a new quick reference digital carpet sample is a user-friendly addition to its recently redesigned website.

Designed with designers and architects in mind, DigiSample is a new and innovative electronic sample process that allows users to download a real-time carpet sample. This custom download generates a PDF with a set of specs, an actual size image, a pattern reference image, and a grayscale installed image of the selected carpet. DigiSample is ideal when time is of the essence or when narrowing down selections before placing actual sample orders.

Dalton — Mohawk is utilizing a new social media campaign to show consumers that its flooring can stand up to even the biggest messmakers. The manufacturer has launched a three-month Facebook contest in search of the messiest kid in America. Moms across the nation are invited to upload a photo or video of their messy children in action to the Mohawk Flooring Facebook page for an opportunity to win some big-ticket prizes.

Cleveland — M S International (MSI), one of the industry’s largest stone distribution companies, is making it possible for the Marble Institute of America to produce a major new documentary that memorializes the global historic relationship between mankind and natural stone. Funding for the documentary will be provided by MSI.

The 35-40 minute documentary will be based on a creative concept by Mr. Manu Shah, founder of MSI of Orange, California.  The documentary will trace the evolution of man and stone from prehistoric times to today’s thriving use of natural stone as one of the premier decorative building materials used in commercial buildings and homes around the world.

Britt Lakin, a professional photographer from Dublin, Ohio, is the $5,000 grand prize winner in Mullican Flooring’s “WE ❤ OUR MULLICAN FLOOR!” photo contest conducted on Facebook.

Lakin’s winning photo, which depicts her home’s family room, displays prefinished, solid “walnut nature” hardwood flooring from Mullican’s Nature Collection. The photo received 3,003 votes and 5,547 Facebook views.

Seminar Offers Tile and Stone Businesses Practical Digital MarketingTips 

Tile and Stone businesses have the opportunity to learn practical digital marketing tips during a two hour seminar titled “Practical Marketing for Small Businesses: Strengthen Your Website, Get Found & Connect With Customers.” Christine B. Whittemore, chief simplifier of Simple Marketing Now LLC, will lead the session which takes place Friday, April 20^th, 2012 from 8:30 to 10:30 am at Coverings. Coverings, the premier international trade fair and expo dedicated exclusively to showcasing the newest in ceramic tile and natural stone, takes place April 17 through 20, 2012 at the Orange County Convention Center in Orlando, Florida.

Calhoun, Ga. — As a kick off for their brand new showroom, Surya has announced that it will host a party in its showroom, Showplace 4100, during the High Point Market. The festivities will begin at 6:00pm on April 22, 2012 in their brand new 26,000 sq/ft showroom and will feature a live DJ, dancing, an open bar and a catered dinner. Surya thrives on the motto “work hard, play hard”; and hopes this party will set the tone for a very productive but fun market.

Elkins, W.Va. (AP) — Armstrong World Industries is recalling workers at its Randolph County plant who were laid off last November.

Armstrong spokeswoman Jennifer Johnson tells The Inter-Mountain that demand for the company’s products has increased.