Las Vegas—Flooring software technology has made leaps and bounds in recent years, with many firms touting advancements meant to support the flooring retailer and distributor in the successful operation of their businesses.
This year’s Surfaces event, held here, saw several of the top flooring software brands launch new iterations of their CRMs, digital marketing technologies as well as digital payment options, plus so much more.
Following are some of the recent advancements in flooring software technology:
Broadlume
Broadlume is introducing multiple new features and enhancements to its technology portfolio. The first overarching initiative is called Digital Retailing, Broadlume’s seamless shopping experience that aims to bridge the gap between manufacturers and retailers while allowing customers to make their purchases online and visualize products in their homes.
“Over the years, we built all of this software, but what we realized was we needed deeper integrations with manufacturers in order to build a better customer experience,” said Todd Saunders, CEO, Broadlume. “So now, with our Digital Retailing manufacturing partnerships, you can go on our retailer websites as a consumer and have a totally different experience.”
The company also introduced a new email marketing component of Broadlume, a feature that allows retailers to remotely reach out to clients. “When you get leads, you have to call those leads every day. Well, you don’t always have time to follow up on all those leads. So, once a lead comes in or a phone call comes in, our email marketing kicks off an automation that sends that person 10 emails across 100 days to remind them to come back. And then when the retailer marks that lead as sold, there’s a 365-day automation that says: ‘Hey, don’t forget to refer a friend’ or ‘Hey, how is our install? Leave a review’ or ‘Just want to see how things are going.’”
Comp-U-Floor
In addition to moving its ERP system to the cloud, Comp-U-Floor unveiled its latest technology, Wireless Warehousing, at the show. The new module is designed to make it easy to manage warehouse operations efficiently from the floor with the new system.
“It allows you to run warehouse functions—stock checks, physical inventory, picking material, staging material, receiving purchase orders,” explained Edgar Aya, president and founder. “So, anything the warehouse personnel need to do, they can now do wirelessly in the warehouse.”
The new module is integrated into the Comp-U-Floor business system and combines wireless barcode technology with the company’s robust inventory, sales, purchasing and accounting solutions to deliver a flexible, real-time warehouse management system.
Cyncly
Cyncly produces end-to-end soft-ware and content solutions and entered the flooring industry with the acquisitions of Pacific Solutions, RFMS and, most recently, Mobile Marketing.
“Since we did the acquisition in October and became part of Cyncly, we’ve been able to do more, quicker, and innovate on things that I wanted to be able to do but which probably would’ve taken me a lot longer to get there without Cyncly,” said Carole Cross, CEO, Mobile Marketing. Cross noted that one of the biggest advancements has been the integration of backend systems. “The fact that RFMS and Pacific Solutions are also Cyncly companies and we have the ability to integrate and get that kind of data, provide a whole new level of marketing and ROI—it’s the holy grail of digital marketing, to be able to close the loop,” she said.
One of the biggest initiatives for RFMS is the launch of RFMS Next, a complete rewrite of its core solution in the cloud, according to Rod Bayless, general manager of Cyncly Flooring Solutions. “We intend to be 50% of the way done by the end of this year and have it completely done by ’27,” Bayless explained. “We’ve had an integration with Mobile Marketing that we’ve been excited about, but we’re going to continue to enrich that integration this year. It’ll be in a really special place by the end of the year. And, of course, also working on integration with Pacific Solutions.”
Measure Square
Measure Square has grown in renown due to its flagship measuring software. The company is considered top tier in the segment and boasts long-term clients in the commercial space. But the company has expanded beyond its roots and at the show unveiled its new CRM.
“So, obviously, we’re an estimation company first,” explained Brian Dang, associate product manager. “We have really strong software in terms of getting data. The idea behind the CRM is taking that data and pulling it into every other step of the business up until accounting.”
The new CRM allows sales team, estimators, administrators and field installers to collaborate their workflow with centralized measurement and estimating data, product order info and jobsite information. It enables users to: track project leads with project plans and MeasureSquare takeoff diagrams; bid/quote accurately and efficiently directly from estimating data and vendor pricing tracking; and manage installation schedules and job costing with real time profitability tracking, plus much more.
QFloors
One of the latest innovations from QFloors is its credit card processing system, QPay, which is designed to help their customers easily collect payments from the end user around the clock. During a time when retail store owners are juggling hefty fees and lax security protocols from typical credit providers, QFloors developed its own integrated credit card processing service for the flooring industry. QPay was designed to integrate seamlessly with the company’s QFloors platform and provides time-saving features and reasonable rates.
“What our dealers are telling us is that they’re closing so much quicker and so much more easily with QPro,” said Chad Ogden, CEO of QFloors. “The [store owner] can send their customer an email with a payment link, an invoice, etc., and the customer can go home and pay it whenever they want. So it not only makes it easier for our customer’s customers, the end user, it makes our customer able to close much quicker, much more easily, without the hassle. That’s been something that our customers are telling us they love.”
The company has added some other new features to its offering, including its new Installer View. “Floor covering installers can—on any device, wherever they are—tap a button and see their full schedule.”
The product allows for easier communication between dealers and installers, too. For installers, it is easy to view schedules, check job locations, look up materials and more.
Roomvo
Roomvo is best known for its visualization technology, which allows customers to take pictures of their home and visualize different flooring options instantly. One of the biggest enhancements to Roomvo’s overall offerings is its websites.
“At Surfaces right now, you can come and build a website in five minutes or less with one of our website account specialists,” said Brandon Shidlowski, senior director of strategy at Roomvo. “We will literally get you online with your colors, your logos, your address. You can start collecting leads online before you leave this show, and our websites come with our product catalog built in. So, if you carry products from any of the hundreds-plus brands that are on our platform, many of which are in this room right now, you can actually add their products to your website so that it comes fully loaded with a product catalog and Roomvo’s visualizer built in.”
Shidlowski stressed the importance of technology in today’s digital age. “The pandemic didn’t change the ability for someone to use technology. It didn’t make us better at that. It just stressed how badly we need it, so we doubled down on making it even easier for people to use. The name of the game for us is helping retailers enhance their digital presence and bring that into their showroom seamlessly.”
Showroom Pricing
Showroom Pricing, a software company founded by fellow retailer Kristen Stensby, offers several unique features via its software platform. First, it allows flooring dealers to update pricing in their showrooms in real time. It also helps to manage samples and leads. On the consumer side, the product—which requires no apps to download or special scanners—allows customers to walk into a retailer’s showroom and open the camera on their phones to see product pricing via QR codes.
“We are continuing to offer pricing software that offers tiered price points, sample management and lead management—all from one QR code,” Stensby told Floor Covering News.
