What would you like to change about our industry?
Installation? Marketing? Low ball pricing? Nothing? Everything? If you ask a
dozen flooring folks this question you may get a dozen different answers. As
part or a leadership roundtable that appears in this issue we posed the
question to a number of industry V.I.P.s. It seems like an appropriate question
given the tenor of the times and the softness seen in some corners of the
business. Also, considering the stature of the executives who agreed to
participate, I believe you will find the responses enlightening. Maybe even
inspiring.
One top retail executive hoped the
“bad and disreputable retailers” are jettisoned out of the business. A
manufacturer said he’d like to see less of a focus on price and more focus on
the “true value of a product.” Another major industry figure called for “Less
finger pointing among manufacturers, retailers and installers and more focus on
seeing to it that the customer gets the right product installed the right
way at the right time.” And there was also one highly respected exec who
wondered if we could rev up the “excitement factor.” (You’ll have to read the
story beginning on page 10 to see who said what.)
The insights offered by our industry
leadership panel are complemented by something else we’ve included in this
issue of NFT. We were very proud to have been selected as the exclusive partner
for research conducted by the World Floor Covering Association. The WFCA called
on our sister company, Clear Seas Research, to conduct in-depth interviews with
dozens of floor covering retailers. While the full 50-page report is being made
available exclusively to WFCA members, the snapshot of the results included on
page 18 makes two things abundantly clear: the industry is surging forward, and
retailers and their customers have become far more sophisticated about product
selection, merchandising and marketing. Those who cling to the past and refuse
to update their operation leave themselves vulnerable.
What the study also makes clear is
summed up by the comments of a retailer who participated: “The ultimate goal
when you leave a customer’s home is for it to be absolutely beautiful and
they’re so happy that they’re going to tell all their friends and neighbors.”
Thankfully this is an approach that has remained unchanged in our industry for
generations.
And there’s something else we
learned from the WFCA’s project. As much as flooring specialty stores dislike
big box stores trying to muscle their way into flooring, they are not seen as
the No.1 competitive threat. Flooring retailers told us it is the rival
specialty stores that pose the biggest challenge. This is also a positive sign.
It suggests there are still many consumers who refuse to see flooring as a
commodity.
Shoppers in the market for flooring
want your expertise and they want a level of service that is incomprehensible
at a big box store. When specialty stores compete, it is not a race to the
bottom (price-wise), it is a challenge to elevate the breadth of selection and
quality of service. That is the type of level playing field all specialty
stores should relish. (It will also help send packing those “bad and
disreputable retailers.”)
So as we head into the second half
of 2007, it is clear that continued change is imminent in our industry. There
are also strong indications that the business will rebound from the slump we’ve
seen in recent months. There will be lots more talk of environment
responsibility and the use of technology to corral business and streamline
operations. It will become abundantly clear that many of the business practices
that have endured for decades are no longer viable.
There is one crucial element that remains unchanged and that
is summed up by the comments of another retailer in the study: “I would say
value is much more important than price. I say it because I know we’re not the
cheapest, and that people still do business with us.”