CushionStep Flooring Display

By Steven Feldman
Lancaster, Pa.— Armstrong Industries is stepping up its commitment to the increasingly popular floating floor category with the introduction of CushionStep Flooring, a fiberglass cushion floor that will be marketed exclusively to the independent retail channel.

According to Alan Cubell, vice president of product management, residential resilient, the floating floor category in 2005 represented approximately 8% of the resilient sheet market in North America. Armstrong has a leadership position in the DIY arena, but in the past three years the category has gained acceptance at specialty retail. Cubell noted Armstrong always wants to take its products to the independent retail channel, but its experience until now was that these types of products had failed because of performance, durability, staining and buckling issues.

While there are currently two other players in the market, he was quick to point out CushionStep Flooring is not a me-too product. In fact, he cited what he believes to be seven competitive advantages:

• The brand. Cubell noted Armstrong’s brand aided awareness among all consumers is 98% and number one in their minds in terms of quality and design, according to a Millward Brown study;

• The distribution network. “Our distributors offer the highest level of service, training and education, and have the greatest penetration,” Cubell said. “One of our competitors has no distribution, and the other’s network doesn’t compare to ours.”;

• The Web site. Cubell noted how www.armstrong.com recommends to retailers an interested consumer every two minutes;

• Style and design. “This is our biggest advantage,” he said. “We are taking our MasterWorks technology, which retailers have come to know as creating the most realistic stone and wood visuals, across entire product lines. And on our ‘best’ product line, we are bringing MasterWorks technology with VTx, which provides variable texture and depth.”;

• Flexibility. Armstrong is offering two installation systems for CushionStep Flooring: a loose lay system which employs double-faced acrylic tape, and a fully adhered system. For the latter, the company is launching S-288, designed expressly for this floor as well as its vinyl tile installations. “Competitors are recommending generic adhesives,” Cubell said. “When we researched the other adhesives we found that over time they may not necessarily stand up and hold the floor down. So we wanted to come up with something that stands the test of time.”;

• Comfort. Armstrong’s Cushion-Core and CushionCore HD creates comfort underfoot and also resists water, mold and mildew, making it useful in high-moisture areas, and

• Durability. The VisionGuard urethane wearlayer offers stain, fade and wear resistance.

Distributors with whom FCNews spoke are extremely excited about the launch. John Sher, executive vice president of Adleta Corp. in Dallas, said the product offers tremendous value. “When you compare the visuals of Cushion-Step to laminate flooring, and you look at the square foot price of both, CushionStep has a superior value. You have to go up in price with laminate to equal the visual
of CushionStep.”

Sher believes CushionStep will be a hit for Adleta. “We are a huge laminate market, but within our territory we have large pockets that have become retirement communities. Cushion flooring has become popular with retirees who may have had hard surface floors in the past.”

Lucky Burke, president of Readers Wholesale in Houston, also sees opportunity for Cushion-Step within his market, particularly Louisiana, which is in a rebuilding mode after last year’s devastating Hurricane Katrina. “There is so much building going on right now in Louisiana. There is a big labor issue—getting qualified installers to do the work. This product lends itself to this market right now.”

But Burke sees opportunity throughout his entire territory, mainly because of the visuals. “First of all, this type of product has enjoyed success in our marketplace. But more importantly, Armstrong came up with a dynamic, well-styled, very exciting line, particularly the wood looks. There’s something about the MasterWorks manufacturing process that makes the wood looks jump out. We think they nailed this one.”

Frank Ready, president and CEO of Armstrong’s flooring division, told FCNews CushionStep is the latest in a string of product introductions which continue to position Armstrong as the leader across hard surface categories in design and performance. “Our extensive experience in manufacturing of glass floors through our Teeside facility [in the U.K.], combined with our understanding of the North American market, positions us to win in this segment. When you combine CushionStep with the remainder of our sheet offering, laminate and hardwood products, we have the best portfolio in the industry.”

The Specifics

The positioning of the product is geared toward the female consumer and stresses simplicity. The latter is evident in that there are only three collections—Woods, Stones and Impressions (cork and linoleum allover looks)—and two price points: better ranges from $1.50- to $2.50-sq.-ft. while best is from $2.50- to $3.50-sq.-ft. Better products are 100mil thick and carry a 10-year warranty; best products are 120mil and come with a 15-year warranty.

“Consumers look for style, design and color first,” Cubell said. “So, we wanted to simplify the buying process by coming up with an intuitive way to merchandise and sell the product by style and design first.”

Armstrong research revealed consumers were confused by the many collections in its traditional lines with the hundreds of designs, product names and attributes. Hence, CushionStep has no product names. “It is all intuitive,” he added. “Most people who want a wood look would probably guess that our wood collection is the place to go.” Thus, the merchandising is done within the design collections. Within Stones, there are 15 best and seven better designs; within Woods there are eight best and two better better designs; and Impressions offers two best and one better design.

The merchandising is targeted to the female buyer with a display that is meant to stand out in a retail showroom. Again, the story is intuitive. The display shows a good deal of product and offers features which allow the consumer to touch, take home and walk on the samples. Three large 18X30-, 18X42- and 18X54-in. samples representing each category detatch so the consumer can walk on them. “The consumer can easily flip through the samples,” Cubell said. “We received feedback revealing females like to sift through things.”

The display will be auto-sampled to 8,000 retailers, which is two to three times the number placed by competitors, Cubell said. They began shipping to distributors May 29.

“We like the fact Armstrong and Adleta are providing at no additional charge a consumer-friendly, stand-alone display for Cushion-Step as part of the automatic sampling program,” Sher said.

While this is Armstrong’s first foray into specialty retail with this type of product, it is not virgin territory. “We have been in this category for almost 10 years in North America,” Cubell said, selling it primarily as a DIY product in big boxes. But we have been making product in our plant in the U.K. for more than 25 years, selling it mostly in Europe. We kept it as a DIY product for so long because the primary selling feature was ease of installation, which makes it a great DIY or cash-and-carry product.

“Now we see the category gaining acceptance from retailers for the two installation methods—a loose lay with two-sided acrylic tape and a gap around the edge, and fully adhered, which was the surprise to us because we viewed its primary benefit as ease of installation,” he said. “Retailers tell us 80% of time these products, when professionally installed, are glued down. That makes it a much more viable channel.”

While the hope is that Cushion-Floor supplements Armstrong’s existing resilient business, Cubell is realistic in that he expects it to cannibalize traditional sheet sales to some extent. “I don’t believe it will be 100% incremental, nor do I believe it will be entirely cannibalization either. This product is going into basements, which may have had carpet or nothing on the floor. So, we view this as an opportunity to grow the category or at least keep pace. It’s another tool in our distributors’ tool chest.”

Adleta’s Sher agreed. “Vinyl has been flat, but this type of installation system is having a strong growth rate. So, we think we have a product that will have a very fast growth rate for us.” He credited laminate flooring for the category’s success. “Laminate has eliminated the fear of a floating floor among the dealer and consumer. The success of laminate has taken away the objection that the floor has to be glued throughout the entire width of the floor. And if there is a consumer who has not gotten over that, she can glue down Armstrong’s floor.”