Aurora, Colo.—The flooring industry has been mired in a downturn for more than two years, and prospects for 2026 show only marginal improvement, according to ITR Economics. With that as the backdrop, you might think conneXtion 2026 had an air of gloominess to it. Nothing could be farther from the truth as energy and optimism permeated the Gaylord Rockies Resort, site of the convention, over three days. “We’re excited, people are excited,” Keith Spano, CEO of Carpet One Floor & Home, told FCNews. “We’ve had so many fantastic conversations—it was high energy.”
The message to CCA retail members is to stop waiting for the economy to turn around and seize the day. “We’re done waiting for the economy to change; we’ll take matters into our own hands,” Spano told CCA dealers.
While CCA retailers fared better than the rest of the industry last year (-5% for the industry vs. 1% gain for CCA), according to Spano, they face tough sledding in the months ahead as high mortgage rates and inflation remain roadblocks. The challenges are not insurmountable by any measure, but they will require more than just waiting for opportunity to knock, he added.
To that end, CCA Global is arming its dealers with the tools necessary to grow business and win market share in the process. CCA executives encouraged its Carpet One Floor & Home and Flooring America/Canada dealers to improve efficiencies in the following areas:
- Merchandising—improve labor margin, sell the full project and add a credit card fee to transactions.
- Marketing—spend 5% on sales, participate in AMP (Advanced Marketing Program) reach and improve lead follow-up through AMP Connect.
- Operations—cap payroll to 18% of sales, reduce business insurance costs and take advantage of operational discount.
Members were asked to choose one from each area to focus on and then let the executive team know so their progress could be tracked leading up to the summer regionals.
“It plays into our theme for this show—tactical and practical; execution and accountability,” Spano explained. “Everything we do has to move the needle, have an ROI. It’s retail blocking and tackling. We have to sharpen our numbers. All these things that we’re asking of them add up to the bottom line; small things make big differences. The money is sitting there—you just have to go out and get it. What’s cool is they are committed to the changes we asked them to make.”
Diversification
The importance of business diversification was a message conveyed many times during conneXtion 2026. CCA members are making strides in that area with the embrace of KIBA – Kitchen and Bath Studio. At present, more than 150 members across all retail divisions are selling K&B, accounting for 21% of total business. The average sale is $51,000, which goes back to Spano’s mantra of selling the project and increasing ROI.
It was announced at the show that CCA will be starting a pilot program to sell garage floor refinishing this year under the brand Invincible Custom Epoxy Floors. Between 10 and 15 stores will take part in the program. (Sika is the resin supplier for the pilot and possibly beyond.)
“It’s an opportunity to bring some professionalism to this business, and it plays with the diversification,” said Charlie Dilks, chief product officer. “Our goal is to have the pilots completed before the regional meetings.”
Retail 2.0—a ‘game changer’
CCA’s merchandising selling system, Retail 2.0, has been fully implemented across Carpet One Floor & Home, Flooring America and Flooring Canada. “Retail 2.0 has far exceeded our expectations,” Spano said. “It has led to faster close rates, bigger tickets, higher margins. It has been a game changer for us.”
To assist members, CCA hired 600 retail sales associates for its member stores. Many of the sales associates came from industries outside of flooring. “Retail 2.0 is so intuitive,” Spano said. “We can take people from other industries and they can hit the ground running. We prefer to hire from outside the industry; therefore, there are no preconceived notions, no biases.”
Steve Sieracki, president of Flooring America/Flooring Canada, added, “Retail 2.0 is the foundation, and you have to keep the foundation strong. Our members will get two updates each year [to Retail 2.0]. We have to keep the looks fresh.”
CCA is collaborating with Roomvo for its forthcoming Retail 3D, which will build on Retail 2.0 with a bevy of digital and AI features designed to enhance the shopping experience and lead to more sales. Roomvo staff conducted tours of the new program during the convention.
Positive outlook for 2026
Attendees were generally excited and optimistic that 2026 will be a better year than the previous two. ConneXtion 2026 sold out the Gaylord Rockies Resort (1,501 rooms), with room blocks added at a nearby hotel to accommodate the masses—including 15 Carpet One retailers from Australia. They included Mark Bulluss, managing director of Carpet One Floor & Home Australia, who spent nearly a full day getting to the show. He told FCNews that his original flight en route to Sydney was delayed four hours before he was able to fly the 16 hours from Sydney to Dallas and then two hours to Denver. “I’m happy to be here,” Bulluss said. “When you are in a co-op like this group is—what we say in Australia—is we’re all ‘mates.’ We’ve done well with this group. It has allowed us to diversify our business in a good way.”
Harry Tishler, head of residential flooring for Blakeley’s Flooring, Indianapolis, was attending his first conneXtion as a dealer after years working with a different organization. “I give this show very high marks,” he said. “You can tell they took great care with the destination they picked. It’s a wonderful venue; it’s all positive.”
On the supplier side, Mercier Wood Flooring was making its debut with CCA and reported great traffic. “This show has been fantastic,” said Wade Bondrowski, director of sales U.S. “They’re the best of the buying groups. Their professionalism is top notch. At the end of the day, you know this group will be around.”
CCA executives shared that positivity. “It’s not doom and gloom out there,” Spano said. “People with money are spending it. Our average carpet is 60 ounces. Better-end products are rocking and rolling. The affluent customer is still spending money.”
Sieracki reinforced a message made by ITR Economics that the next few years is the window to make hay before any downturn occurs. “We’re positioning members well now for when that time comes,” Sieracki said. “We have a very strong option for our retailers.”
ITR: Improving conditions
One of the highlights of conneXtion 2026 was the return of Connor Lokar, senior forecaster and senior economic consulting speaker for ITR Economics, who provides his take on the economy how it might impact the flooring industry.
Based on ITR’s data, Lokar told members that slight improvement can be expected as housing conditions brighten somewhat. But for folks expecting mortgage rates to drop significantly, or inflation to drop, don’t hold your breath. “By this time next year expect to see a rising mortgage rate trend. We have a short window of lower mortgages rates before then.”
Lokar said mortgage rates for 30-year loans may dip below 6% for a brief period in 2026 before rising again into the mid-6s. As well, inflation is also expected to keep grow to about 3.4% by the end of the year.
On the bright side, Lokar said existing home sales appear poised to gradually improve in 2026. That would be positive news for the flooring industry as existing homes sales activity offers the strongest correlation to same-store sales. “We are starting to cook with gas here,” Lokar said. “Is it going to be as good as 2021? No. But it will be better than 2025, fighting inch by inch to get better. The question is: are you ready?”
Tariffs created uncertainty
As was the case in 2025, tariffs will be a fact of life for flooring retailers in 2026. But Lokar said the level of chaos and uncertainty that hurt the industry last spring has given way to a more “normalized” reaction this year. “At ITR we don’t love tariffs,” he said. “The way we look at the economy we are the free-market proponents. We don’t think the government getting involved in the economy is a good thing— generally bad things happen.”
Lokar said tariffs did “zero favors” for the housing market in 2025. “It was the broader ecosystem of uncertainty that hurt your business. Housing did worse in ’25 than we thought it would. March-April got smacked in the face in the middle of peak season because of tariff uncertainty.”
At the same time, Lokar said tariffs are not going to kill the economy or drive hyper-inflation. “It was never so simple that tariffs were going up 25% and consumers were going to pay 25% more. It’s not that simple.”
Lokar encouraged the audience to focus on what they can control, to ignore the political noise and invest in their businesses to best compete through the next several years.
“There is no ‘miracle cure,’” he said.