Wood: Wide-width surge fuels sales upgrade opportunities

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October 9/16, 2017: Volume 32, Issue 9

By Reginald Tucker

 

The growing popularity of wide-width/long-length planks reflects consumer demand for hardwood floors that add depth and character to living spaces, design experts say. What this means for retailers is many of these wider/longer products—which, by their very nature, entail greater use of the raw material—retail in the high-middle to upper end of the register. This has the dual effect of driving more consumers into retail stores in search of these trendy products while giving floor covering dealers an opportunity to improve their margins.

“By and large, the market has moved to longer, wider product—that’s where most of the growth has been in engineered hardwood,” said David Holt, senior vice president, builder and multi-family, Mohawk Industries. “That’s primarily what we’re making out of our Melbourne plant. With our capabilities, we’re able to do different things to the wood, from colorization to fuming to surface texturing.”

The recent investments Mohawk has made across its hardwood manufacturing operations aim to address emerging consumer demands for stylish, trendy products, including collections featuring longer/wider boards. Mohawk’s research shows more consumers are seeking floors with larger dimensions to conform with a broader interior design trend toward open floor plans. Another benefit of this trend is it opens the door to premium products that further differentiate Mohawk from commodity wood flooring producers.

“The wider/longer boards are really growing in popularity,” said Lew Grass, owner, All About Flooring, Taylors, S.C., which sells the Mohawk brand. “I really like the distressed looks in Mohawk hardwood, be it the hand-scraped or the wirebrushed look; those are the things that decorators are drawn to.”

Suppliers across the board are rolling out products that key on the wider/longer trend. Shaw Floors, for instance, recently added a number of new products in its signature Epic Plus collection of wide, long-length planks featuring its Stabilitek core, which is built for high performance and lasting durability. The company’s Epic Plus Extreme Nature line boasts the longest, widest hardwood planks made in the U.S. Each plank is designed in a large-scale format: 9¼ inches long by 82½ inches wide by ½ inches thick.

In the exclusive Extreme Nature collection, Shaw offers three species in four textures, including Landmark Maple, Landmark Walnut, Landmark Hickory and Landmark Hickory Scraped. “Consumers are searching for a hardwood floor that will bring continuity to their large, open interiors,” said Drew Hash, vice president, hard surface product and category management.

Mohawk and Shaw are not the only companies betting big on wider and longer. Mirage recently launched new board lengths up to 82 inches. The new lengths represent an average increase of 25% for Mirage Engineered 5-inch and 6½-inch widths.

“The trend toward longer boards continues,” said Brad Williams, vice president of sales and marketing at Boa-Franc, maker of the Mirage brand. “Increasing our board lengths—up to 82 inches now—supports that trend.”

Other prominent brands, including Mannington, are building on their existing product lines with wider, longer products. Case in point is the company’s new Norweigian oak product, a 61⁄3-inch-wide, engineered, wire-brushed, dual-stained floor featuring a matte finish. “The trend toward wider plank visuals lends itself to engineered given the enhanced stability of the product,” said Dan Natkin, vice president, wood and laminate.

Other noteworthy wide- plank offerings include: Uniboard’s 75⁄8-inch-wide floor from its Heritage collection, which, according to Daniel Seguin, senior director, business development, “features colors and styles designed for the U.S. consumer.”

Other examples: Johnson Hardwood’s signature Alehouse   and English Pub offerings, both available in a 7 1⁄2-inch-wide format. “Wider widths are definitely gaining in popularity,” said Bill Schollmeyer, CEO.

Then there are brand new products such as Mullican Flooring’s Wexford, a Euro-sawn offering in a 7 5⁄8-inch-wide format, and Ribadao’s Agus, a whopping 10-inch-wide, 95-inch-long product featuring a wire-brushed face and two-tone colorations. Another head turner is Mercier’s Fjord, which comes in a variety of widths and lengths to suit the consumer’s personal style. Available in both engineered and solid formats, the line is marked by gray hues combined with brown undertones and the natural golden color of white oak.

The wide range of wide-width floors on the market gives retailers virtually endless options from which to choose. When combined with unique species, surface treatments and colorations, those choices increase exponentially. Such is the case with the Covelo Canyon collection, a 6-inch-wide product, from Hemisphere Imports. “Most products in this range come in at about $6.99 per square foot, so we’re right in that sweet spot,” said Tom Karol, president. “With this product, we’re giving retailers something that offers above-average margins.”

Armstrong also offers retailers a variety of trendy products that fit the wide-width bill. Among them: Woodland Relics, Artisan Collective and Rustic Restorations. “We strive to bring our customers products that offer great design and performance,” said Christopher Moore, wood product manager.

Ultra high-end opportunities
Naturally, wide-width hardwood flooring products lend themselves to trade-up opportunities far beyond the high-middle of the market into the upper-end stratosphere. It’s comfortable territory for companies such as DuChâteau, which eschews the lower end of the market. The San Diego-based producer of wide-plank, oil-finished European oak products has its eye keenly on upscale, high-profit offerings in the $13-$25 range.

“We’re committed to quality design and aesthetics,” said Mitch Tagle, DuChâteau’s CEO and co-founder. “The DuChâteau brand focuses on European wood flooring with a hard wax oil finish. The brand has a European aesthetic—starting with the name, of course. It’s a look that’s exclusive to DuChâteau.

“We’re not the cheapest out there, and we don’t want to get into that category. We have the brand recognition, and people appreciate the quality of our products because of that.”

HF Design is another company specializing in distressed European oak products targeting that upper echelon. Like DuChâteau, Provenza, et. al, HF prides itself on staying out of the entry-level fray.

“The value we bring to our partners is based on turnkey marketing and merchandising combined with fresh new styles in hardwood flooring to help retailers stay ahead of the trend curve,” said Alex Shaoulpour, president. “We make sure we always use the finest quality materials while being fashion-forward and eco-friendly.”

Another supplier specializing in the stylish wide-width European oak look is USFloors, with its popular Castle Combe line. According to Jamann Stepp, director of marketing and product management, the product is gaining traction in the new home construction market, especially the mid to upper end.

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