A couple of years before the launch of Coretec, Piet Dossche showed me a product at a convention that he was excited about and felt would be a huge seller in the U.S. It was a combination of an LVP attached to a core, which I don’t believe at the time was anything more than the same HD product used with laminate, and then again, with an attached underlayment made from cork. The category itself had not yet been defined and the current LVP/LVT products really had not been fully developed or vetted. It was a click together floating floor that would be priced much higher than any of the laminate flooring out there. Laminate, frankly, had all of its margin dollar opportunities squeezed out, so even if you made 50 percent to 60 percent in margin, it didn’t amount to significant profit dollars. You worked to death moving volume to make ends meet.
My response to Piet was, “I just don’t think we will be able to sell this at a price needed to make the margins we need.” But this product is why I am still doing what I am doing today, and why Piet just sold his company to Shaw Industries. At the time, I was thinking that this would just be another high-priced laminate (many had come and gone before) trying to move or stop a category that was going downhill so fast that nothing would stop it. In fact, this past year, laminate was less than 2 percent of my business and more than 20 percent of my claims. And I was not thinking this would be the product that would become one of the top sellers in the LVP/LVT category and eventually the “Gold Standard” in the WPC (wood plastic composite) category.
Fast forward to 2016. In the past year or two we have seen almost every hard surface and some soft surface manufacturers jump into this new category and at some point, they will try their best to kill it for the independent dealers to make money. But so far, even with the entrance of some lower priced product, it appears that the premium products still prevail. In 2016, my top showroom in this segment, when labor was included, beat out hardwood and ceramic as a category! And laminate was less than half of one percent of sales. Two years ago, I stopped installing laminate and only sell it cash and carry.
Here is my list of why retailers like selling WPC product:
1. It looks great — the No. 1 or No. 2 reason people buy flooring.
2. Great bells and whistles: Waterproof, can go in every room of the home, and most do not need acclimation. It’s also more forgiving than sheet vinyl as less prep is needed and it’s quieter than laminate.
3. Virtually problem free installation ending up with happy customers and salespeople.
4. Priced less installed than the better looking wood and ceramic products so more people can afford it.
5. Quicker installation, freeing up valuable installer time to do more jobs!
6. While No. 6 on this list, it happens to be No. 1 for me as a retailer — more sales over time from the same home. We will replace these products more over the next 20 years than we will hardwood or ceramic. People’s taste and styles change. This is a simple and cost effective product to take up.
Don Roberts is a 40 year flooring industry professional who has managed teams from seven to more than 700 to success. Don can be reached via e-mail at don.roberts@myflorstor.com.