Award's Terra Bella Display

By Louis Iannaco
Hicksville, N.Y.—What makes a hardwood flooring display unit an effective selling tool? What benefits and features must it exhibit to be a true profit maker for the dealer? How important are displays to the marketing of a hardwood flooring product? As more retailers get involved selling hardwood flooring, product displays are growing more important each day. From size to functionality and versatility, these units have become extremely critical to the growing viability of the category.

“Our new merchandising system, the Showcase Plus, holds 78 hardwood flooring samples, almost double the company’s previous display of 40 samples,” said Tim Crais, product manager for Mullican Flooring. “The Showcase Plus is large enough to represent the diversity of the Mullican line in terms of species, widths, colors, and finishes but small enough to fit into most retail showrooms. At 14X19-in., each display sample provides consumers maximum visual but each is light enough to hold for viewing. Any good unit should be attractive enough to draw the buyer, have large removable samples with helpful product info, be user-friendly and take up as little showroom space as possible.”

“The Info Center is our most recent innovation,” said Jean-Sebastien Roy, marketing manager for Preverco. “It is a very appealing display that showcases the Preverco hardwood boards and room scenes on easy-to-move panels. Standing at 97-in. high, 90-in. long and 33-in. wide, the unit can hold 24 panels along with a large room scene visual and two, two-sided room scene panels. Integrated lights illuminate the panels as well. Another great feature of the Info Center is that it can be assembled in less than an hour.”

“Our new Hardwood Fashion Center,” said John Himes, director of Mannington’s hardwood business, “being launched this July, will offer the most sample reveal of any unit we’ve ever had so that consumers can see more of each SKU without removing the sample. With a very clean updated look in cherry cabinetry, this unit will be ‘the best foot forward’ a Mannington hardwood retailer can offer. The Mannington Distinctives Display offers 20 of our most unique and best selling SKUs from our line in large 2X4-ft. panels.”

On what an effective display should feature, Roy noted, “it should allow the customer to actually see the wood: The more of the panel that is visible, the better. For instance, our metal display rack was designed so that the large sample boards are set up so that almost the entire surface of the wood panels can be seen at a glance. When you use a cascade type of display, much of the wood is covered up.”

“The bottom line is, the unit must show the product in a way that the consumer likes to buy from and that the retailer likes to sell from,” said Himes.

Jonathan Moss of Pollmeier Flooring said, “we utilize a display that has all the samples straight up and down as opposed to more traditional ‘waterfall’ displays. This gives us the benefit of the customer being able to view all samples at once without having to remove them from the display. The samples are also less prone to dust settling on them and are double-sided, which makes them perfect to be displayed in an aisle, as opposed to more traditional displays which are better suited to be put against a wall.

“The double-sided display still maintains a small footprint,” he explained, “it’s only 3-ft. deep and under 4-ft. wide, has a sleek, modern look that attracts attention and is easy to assemble. On average, this display requires only one person to assemble, and set up time is about 45 minutes. Any good unit should feature ease of use, as salespeople do not want to utilize a complex or difficult display system, and it must be functional. It also must be visually pleasing, as customers must be drawn to it without being overwhelmed by an overly busy unit.”

Jill Kort of Award Floors noted how the company’s Fashion Gallery Modular unit features a photographic header which provides “superior visual representation of the flooring attributes. The 15X18-in. sample panels fit perfectly with the display’s compact design to offer maximum product presentation, yet doesn’t require much floor space. Its modular design makes it simple to display the Master’s Touch, American Traditions, and Terra Bella product lines together, or separately.”

Vince Wilkins, director of marketing services for Tarkett, said, “last year we introduced two displays—an 8-ft. unit and a smaller version, in a 4-ft. footprint. The generation before that we had an even larger, 12-ft. display. With its evolution, this year we are really focusing on the smaller module. A lot of that comes from the demand from distributors and retailers. The 4-ft. display gives them flexibility, for retailers who either don’t have a lot of floor space, or some dealers who want to carry the additional SKUs, they bring in two of these modules. They can go side-by-side, back-to-back or they can put them in an L shape.”

“It has a cherry wood grain finish to it,” he explained, “a very professional, upscale look. “One thing we’ve tried to do with all of our waterfall displays is, to give as much product to the dealer as we can. That’s why the waterfall sections are contoured so that it increases the amount of [product] you’ll see, especially if you get lower, at the bottom of the waterfall. The samples are easier to see and remove. We think this is an important feature of the display. We don’t want the consumer to have to work through 30 or 70 samples to get an idea of the color and the graining.”

“Each display we make is designed to promote key selling features that connect with consumers and drive retail sales,” said Joseph Guarino, general manager, distribution channel, residential, Armstrong. “Displays must do more for dealers than simply present products, they must help increase their sales by maintaining a focus on stylish, high-quality products attuned to their customers’ preferences.

“With over 400 new wood SKUs introduced in 2005—and more to come in 2006—we’re now offering an additional merchandising opportunity to help improve retailers’ product mix and sales rate, the Armstrong Wood Tower system,” he added. “The Tower Displays feature targeted assortments in hardwood and laminate, offering a complete selection that is flexible, functional and cost-effective. The system makes it easy for dealers to add new products, or to select products or collections on an ‘a la carte’ basis. They can even customize their merchandising to correspond with specific design trends and market conditions in their area.”

On how important displays are to the marketing of the product, Moss noted, “they are very important for smaller companies that don’t have the market penetration of larger firms. The ability for our customers to see our products is paramount. We also have a supplemental display that can hold six samples, and is good for retailers/builders who want to carry a select number of SKUs. It holds the same sample types as the other unit, and can also be hung from a wall.”

Displays are “critical to the marketing of wood flooring,” said Kort. “Most often, consumers are making their final decision on their purchase by the presentation of the unit and, obviously, from the samples.”

“We have looked at research which proves that at the point-of-sale, merchandising is very influential in the purchasing decision,” said Wilkins. “Some of the studies have shown that over 75% of the buying decision, at times, is made when the consumer is standing in front of the display, meaning she has probably narrowed it down to between a couple of products.”