Hicksville, N.Y.—After visiting more than 60 cities and hosting thousands of specialty dealers, Shaw Industries’ whirlwind tour of the United States and Canada has officially come to an end. And while the final numbers have not been tallied, officials are calling the regional meeting format a “huge success.” John Godwin, executive vice president of sales, felt the format allowed the mill to get closer to the customer in a variety of ways, from allowing reps to spend more one-on-one time explaining the numerous products and programs set to roll out this year to giving Shaw the chance to showcase its full breadth of offerings which, today, go beyond floor coverings.

Dan Bechina, regional vice president, said at Shaw’s Atlantic City, N.J., meeting, one of the biggest comments being made by attendees was, “‘I didn’t know you had all these things to offer,’ referring to everything we have other than flooring, such as insurance; state-of-the-art online systems, including a new consumer-friendly Web site; promotions, and a variety of other value adds to make their businesses more efficient and profitable.” At these events, some of which were one-day affairs while others were stretched over a number of days to accommodate everyone in the area, such as the one in Atlantic City, attendees were shown more than just new products, merchandising, services and programs but a whole new Shaw which came about, in part, to a major consumer and dealer research project spanning more than a year (FCNews, Jan. 12/19).

As part of Shaw’s new dealer and consumer initiative, the company revamped all its retail displays and signage so everything has the same branding elements. The result is three different retail display systems ranging from an a la carte offering to a full fledged, all-inclusive package of fixtures, floors, lighting and signage. Beyond that, Shaw created a variety of new and unique displays for its hard surface products that still fit in with the new branding initiative. In addition, Shaw has made style specific idea boards to show consumers cross merchandising opportunities and inspire them on how to use the products.

The first set of displays falls under the Showroom Solutions program. This is for any and all Shaw dealers and allows them to create any type of configuration they want from the modular units. The nearly dozen components of the system can be purchased together or individually and are designed to fit in a variety of showroom sizes, including 550-, 750- and 1,250-sq.-ft., or even a store-within-a-store layout. Blane Haywood, Shaw’s director of retail marketing, likened them to an erector set in that a display can be easily set up in a number of formats. “They are also simple to change around if desired. “Nothing is forced upon the dealer,” he continued, “and we will even help any retailer out in creating a comfortable selling environment.”

The second display set up is Storeworks and is only available to dealers in Shaw Flooring Alliance (SFA), of which there are approximately 2,900 retailers currently enrolled in the program. While the SFA displays are similar to those in Showroom Solutions, the headers and graphics are geared specifically to the this program, including the many exclusive products and services retailers get. One of the biggest is the Kathy Ireland brand, which Kathy Young, Shaw’s marketing manager, called “a terrific brand. Dealers and consumers love it which is why we’ve expanded the program into hard surfaces.”

The best example of this can be seen in the new 12-ft. laminate display. “Because we are a manufacture of laminates,” noted Randy Merritt, executive vice president of marketing, “we needed a display that lets the world know we are a major player in the category.” When used by a non SFA member, the graphics in the unit portray various life-style pictures. While SFA members get similar photos, the display prominently features Kathy Ireland and her brand. David Wilkerson, vice president of marketing for Shaw’s Hard Surface Division, said, like everything else being introduced, the graphics for this display were chosen based on consumer feedback. “We had hundreds of photos and culled them down following a number of consumer focus groups to see which ones they liked the best. We kept narrowing them down until we got to the ones being shown. It was a difficult process but I’m confident it was worth it because these are the images end users related to the most so they should work well at the retail level.”

The unit doesn’t just feature new graphics, it houses Shaw’s entire laminate collection, including a new attached back product—the only one to be manufactured in the U.S. With more than $125 million in laminate sales in 2003, Shaw has quickly risen to become one of the top sellers in the category. “And, we’re just scratching the surface,” Merritt explained. “When we got started in this business less than two years ago we were at the commodity level. But now, I would put up our line-up over anyone’s. Our goal is to be the largest in the field and this display helps put us on that road.”

The final display concept is the Shaw Design Center (SDC). This is an all inclusive program in which the mill will send out an architect for an on-site consultation. “It takes about two weeks to complete the entire makeover,” Haywood noted. And, even though this is a total redesign, “we will work with the dealer to maintain key elements so that all his needs are met. For instance, since we do not carry resilient, we will work with the retailer to ensure his offerings in that category are prominent ly displayed. Nothing is forced; we’ll even help the dealer finance it.” SDC will have a limited distribution in that Shaw is targeting certain retailers in the top 150 markets. The goal is to have between 150 and 300 dealers in the program. Those that do take it on will automatically become a member of the SFA program entitling them to all the exclusive benefits the network provides.

As for the new products themselves, Kurt Paulson, Shaw’s director of prod uct marketing, residential flooring, said, “The days of spray and pray are gone. That method of introducing products was way too costly for everyone involved and, frankly, it did not make sense.” With that, the company focused its introductions, from soft goods to hard surface products, on information it gathered during its extensive consumer and dealer study. The result is an assortment of products that meet a variety of needs and tastes, from a technologically advanced laminate line to carpet styles designed for particular regions of the U.S. (Editor’s note: In subsequent issues, FCNews will highlight the major portions of Shaw’s product intro duction, including its Touchable Texture laminate collection, innovative wood offerings, ceramics sourced from around the world and broadloom such as the Five-Star Studio Collection by its Sutton division.)