You may be surprised to know that carpet is still King of floor covering. Despite the growth of hard surface flooring and its popularity, carpet still rules the roost. In the residential market hard surface has made greater strides but not so in the commercial market. Residentially hard surface owns most of the main floor; kitchens, bathrooms, family rooms, great rooms and so on. Carpet is still the flooring product of choice for bedrooms. As a result of the growth of hard surface flooring area rugs have grown along with them. If you don’t sell area rugs you’re missing the boat on additional sales and profits. Most consumers who buy hard surface flooring buy area rugs.
The builder market is soft right now for carpet but the luxury market is up. On average carpet sales in the residential market are off anywhere from 10 to 12%. Commercial sales are booming in almost every market. In some markets commercial flooring dealers we’ve spoken to can’t keep up with the demand. The commercial market generates higher margins and profits so even with the residential slow down mills manufacturing commercial products are doing well.
Stone and ceramic sales are up – on the floor, walls and counter tops. In addition, glass tile sales, as accents with tile or on their own, are being used more and more. Using glass to me is the ultimate expression of luxury because it looks like jewels in the floor or on walls.
Since consumers can access any website with information on floor covering products and TV shows on HGTV feature a multitude of floor covering products you need to be aware of what the consuming public is seeing and demanding. If you are aware of the products most consumers want and you advertise and market them with professional installation it is my opinion that you will be very successful. One of the keys to a successful business is to listen to the wants and desires of your market and give it to them.
As for claims, we are seeing an increase in complaints for wood and ceramic. One of the primary reasons for this is ignorance on the part of retailers selling the product. Very few retailers are taking advantage of the information available to them from the sources that explain wood characteristics, installation, performance and idiosyncrasies. The same is true of ceramic tile materials. As a result we are fielding more questions on issues for these two materials from dealers who don’t fully understand the products and the installation of them.
If we can call this a statistic, by a stretch, the lack of information on the part of people selling the product, looking at complaints and processing claims is up dramatically. There are far fewer technical people in the industry than years ago and more young, inexperienced and untaught administrative types who don’t understand the products. Let me make this crystal clear, the likelihood of you getting a correct answer to a problem from anyone who sells the product or handles the claims is remote. The complexity of the problems is increasing due to the variety of products and conditions which can adversely affect them. For example, we have had three claims on vinyl plank material in the last two weeks that no one, not even the manufacturer, could figure out. This is bad news for you if you rely on a manufacturer who you think you can trust to have the answers. This isn’t just talk; we see this and deal with it everyday.
Don’t despair because of the statistics you hear daily. Statistically, those businesses who focus on success will continue to be successful, if you create value for your customers they will in turn create value for you. If you don’t, they won’t regardless of what statistics say.
Author: Lewis G. Migliore
LGM and Associates – The Floorcovering Experts