Despite economic headwinds in 2024, Metroflor maintained steady performance through strong inventoried programs and new product launches. We recently connected with Metroflor President Russ Rogg to learn what's in store for 2025.
Floor Trends & Installation: How was business in 2024? Tell us about your wins.
Russ Rogg: The year 2024 presented several challenges. The overall economy faced sluggishness due to factors such as inflation and high interest rates, which deterred potential customers from making significant investments like flooring. However, we observed steady year-over-year performance from a calendar year perspective. Our inventoried programs, including Inception Reserve SPC and Déjà New Commercial Dry Back, performed well this year. These are programs that our distributors also inventory and support, and the combination of their inventory along with our domestic inventory has resulted in solid program performance. Additionally, we successfully launched several new products in 2024, driven by renewed interest in high-quality, better-made, and better-performing platforms such as WPC.
Floor Trends & Installation: What's your outlook for distribution in 2025?
Russ Rogg: Metroflor supports independent wholesale distribution, recognizing their value in the sales channel. They provide local sales associates, extensive inventory, credit support, and customer service Metroflor has started supporting private label programs with many customers and aims to balance branded portfolios and private label programs. As we approach 2025 and consider the new product launches initiated in 2024, there are optimistic prospects for the upcoming year, contingent upon economic conditions.
Floor Trends & Installation: What are you teeing up for 2025?
Russ Rogg: In 2024, we launched three exciting collections under our Genesis WPC brand: Authentics, Silhouette, and French Quarter. These products are gaining traction in the market and are expected to drive growth in 2025. We also expanded our Déjà New portfolio from 38 to 50 SKUs, making it essential for commercial opportunities requiring dry-back products. Additionally, we have new loose lay and dry back specifications arriving in 2025 for multifamily projects.
Floor Trends & Installation: What should distributors and retailers know about imports in 2025?
Russ Rogg :We have been diversifying our product portfolio over the past years. We now offer products from Vietnam, Cambodia, and South Korea, along with a few unique items from China. Our future plans include expanding to other countries like Thailand and Mexico. Our aim is to provide a wide range of quality products globally. Our locally inventoried collections have been very successful, and we expect to introduce new or expanded programs in 2025.
