Columbia Flooring’s Berkshire.
Our exclusive survey of 140 floor covering dealers and contractors finds that 2011 residential wood business is expected to increase for two-thirds of respondents, while 56% of respondents see the commercial hardwood segment remaining similar to 2010, as 32% see commercial wood jobs increasing.
IndusParquet’s Brazilian Hickory
The residential replacement sector dominates total annual flooring sales for survey participants with 54%, followed by builder/new construction, 20%; contract/commercial, 17%; and main street commercial, 9%. Our panel reported an average of 10 hardwood flooring sales per month in 2010, an increase of two sales per month over 2009. The average ticket amount per hardwood sale decreased to $3,037, compared to $3,764 in the prior year.
Mullican Flooring’s Meridian Pointe.
Over 80% of hardwood sales are of factory prefinished products with engineered flooring with a 47% share, which is evenly split between solid and engineered hardwood. More wood floors are installed using nails, 41%, followed by glue-down, 24%, a drop of 7% from 2009; staple was steady at 20%; and glueless (click) finished at 14%, a 2% gain from 2009.
Three in five hardwood flooring sales are for residential replacement projects. Red oak remains the top selling hardwood species with a 50% share.
Machine/hand-scraped woods, 84%, and exotics (79%) are the most popular styles of wood flooring sold today, followed by reclaimed woods, 48%.
Named top selling hardwood flooring brands were Mohawk, Bruce, Shaw, Somerset, Armstrong, Mullican, Mannington, and Anderson.
Total sales expectations in 2011 by the panel shows carpet at 30%; hardwood at 24%; ceramic tile, 16%; laminate flooring, 10%; resilient floors, 10%; stone, 5%; and area rugs, 4%. The residential replacement segment will continue as the most important industry sector at 57% of total expected annual sales. Looking specifically at hardwood, the residential replacement sector is expected to account for 58% of sales, followed by 23% in builder/new construction; 12%, contract/commercial; and 7%, Main Street commercial.
Price (78%), quality of products offered (74%) and product availability (68%) are the most important factors influencing the hardwood manufacturers/distributors that retailers purchase from or recommend. There was a significant decrease in the influence of price compared to last year – a drop from 90%.(Chart 3)Compared to 2010, the purchase influence factors of style of products offered; sales rep knowledge/support; consistent on-time delivery; customer request; and environmentally friendly products decreased significantly.
The quality of products offered is again the key factor when our survey panel evaluates a hardwood flooring product line. Other factors key to retailers are product availability, 58%; price, 57%; and style of products offered, 53%; customer service provider, 38%; sales rep knowledge/support, 36%; ease of installation, 34%; warranty offered, 34%; brand reputation, 29%; environmentally friendly products, 22%; and supporting marketing/merchandising materials, 18%.
Forty-two percent of survey respondents typically purchase hardwood from six suppliers. This number of suppliers has remained constant for the last three years. Also consistent with previous years, the majority of hardwood flooring is sourced from either a full-line flooring distributor or a specialized hardwood flooring distributor, 36% each; direct from domestic manufacturers, 24%; and importer, 5%.(Chart 4)
