Curt Thompson

Ever since Wilsonart launched its flooring brand in 1995, it has been considered the Cadillac of laminate flooring. One of a handful of manufacturers to utilize higher-cost high-pressure technology, most of its products occupy the highest of high-end perches. The challenge is communicating the value of a $4.99-per-square-foot product to retailers and consumers in an ocean populated with less-expensive, less-performing and less-differentiated imports.

Curt Thompson, longtime vice president of sales and then sales and marketing, in 2005 ascended to the corner office, where he added manufacturing to his responsibilities. FCNews editorial director/associate publisher Steven Feldman recently sat down with the 35-year-old Thompson to discuss everything from current business conditions to how a company survives and thrives with a portfolio of premium products.

You’ve been in charge of Wilsonart’s flooring division for about a year. What’s surprised you?

I’ve been here 11 years so not too many things surprise me, but what concerns me is the challenge retailers have selling premium products. The consumer walks into a floor covering store and is ready to buy great product. She has spent a ton of time and energy researching and wants to buy the best she can afford. So what amazes me is that there are products that don’t deliver the type of value she is looking for yet they continue to be promoted at retail.

Talk about your biggest challenges.

The business climate continues to be challenging. There’s been a softening at retail, which has been felt by the vast majority of flooring manufacturers.

Internally, about two years ago we undertook a project to add additional capabilities to our portfolio, and that meant a significant investment in technology, machinery, etc. The last seven months in particular have been challenging implementing those capabilities. But now we are geared up to produce many introductions coming on line in 2007.

How was business overall in 2006?

Retail was softer than we anticipated. It’s attributed to a combination of things: There’s the increased pricing consumers deal with day to day, and there are additional pressures on the discretionary spending market, like electronics, that compete for our dollars.

On a more positive note, our commercial business continues to be a great platform for growth. We have been seeing a national rebound in commercial construction and development. Look at NeoCon; that show started seeing a rebound in 2005, and last year it saw its largest attendance ever.

How big an opportunity does the commercial market represent?

I’m optimistic that one day our commercial business can be as big as our residential business. The commercial market, not unlike the residential market, wants high-performance product. The same reason why laminate has taken share in the residential market is the same reason why it will take share in the commercial market. Most importantly, the commercial market always demands high-performance products that can deliver cutting-edge design.

How is the business playing out in terms of dollars and volume?

We don’t talk specifics, but I can tell you I wouldn’t be surprised if we were the only laminate manufacturer seeing an increase in average-square-foot price in terms of both wholesale and retail. If you look at the industry at large, the average wholesale price continues to be pressured by slowing demand and large capacities that have been put in place over the last 24 months.

So what are you doing differently than the others?

We are reinforcing the opportunity to sell high-value, high-performance products with excellent profit potential for everyone in the channel. For example, a significant percentage of our residential business comes from products we classify as premium products—products we sell above Classic Plank. That would be $3.99-$4.99, product only, to the consumer, which could be as much as $8 installed. You’re looking at Estate Plus and Red Label, for example.

Estate Plus continues to do well?

When we launched Estate Plus four years ago in the face of declining price points in the laminate category, people thought we were crazy. But it quickly became a double-digit percentage of our business.

What is your top-of-the-line product, and where is it positioned at retail?

I would say our Red Label Handscraped Series and Red Label Distressed Series, which retail between $5.99 and $7.99, product only, is not only Wilsonart’s top-of-the-line product, but the industry’s as well.

What products did particularly well for you in 2006? Why?

The 5-inch products we launched at Surfaces ’06 have done very well. The design component of our products have become more sophisticated, where we have seen them done in realistic patterns. 5-inch products utilize full-board design, where the decorative image is relegated to the specific size of the board and is not chopped up within a single board. We consider the latter old technology.

We place a significant amount of effort on design. Our design team works to give plank-to-plank differentiation with color and shading. Take our Red Label Distressed Series, for example, which capitalizes on the trend of more texture; distress is just another component of that. Our Distressed series delivers the look of a unique visual with a high-performance flooring story. And the new Milan series of tiles have done very well. That’s our limestone reproduction series. It has wonderful shading from tile to tile, not grouted, so it gives a rectified stone appearance.

How do you convey to the retailer and consumer the value of highest-end laminate?

For us it’s about communicating a great looking product and making sure we are in front of design trends, then we have to communicate to the consumer the quality and performance attributes of our high-pressure products. Next, our retail partners must communicate the high level of confidence they have based on the decade-long relationship they have with our brand and company.

Give me a few of Wilsonart’s competitive advantages.

1. First and foremost the high-quality product we make as a result of our high-pressure laminate technology and our relentless commitment to making the best product for the consumer. It starts with the base construction. HPL offers superior impact and indentation resistance to other products on the market today. We use proprietary technology in our plate process, which results in superior resistance to scuff, scratch and mar, coupled with an unsurpassed standard of quality control.

2. Our distribution network is a world-class network of wholesalers that provide a number of benefits to our retail customers.

3. Domestic production ensures consistent and timely delivery of high-quality products.

4. Just-in-time manufacturing process provides consistent delivery to our wholesale partners, which, in turn, allows them to provide highly consistent delivery to our retail partners.

What’s the one thing Wilsonart could do better?

We must continue to educate our retail customers on how to sell our products. It is important that we consistently communicate our message and help them better understand how to sell the highest quality product possible.

We also must continue to promote that the performance value of our products come from the engineering in the surface of the products. We engineer the surface that counts, and that’s the surface you walk on every day. When consumers want to talk about thickness, what they really should be concerned about is the thickness in the wearlayer. That is what offers superior wear, impact, indentation, scuff and scratch resistance and overall product integrity. Our highest performance products have a wearlayer of 45 mil compared to most of the direct pressure products, which may be 6 mil.

How has the housing market decline impacted Wilsonart’s business?

Not much. A very small percentage of our business is new home construction. But as the housing market continues to slide, we should see an increase in residential remodel replacement, which is the significant portion of our business.

Is China affecting Wilsonart’s business in any way?

I think my concern extends beyond China in that any manufacturer that delivers a substandard product may have a detrimental impact on the long-term success of the category. The important thing for us to keep focused on is that our customer is buying more than just product. She is buying a relationship with Wilsonart, a relationship with the retailer, along with the confidence and peace of mind that come with high-quality products.

Talk a little about your plans for 2007.

We have an introduction schedule that will be on par with what we did in 2006, which was the largest in the history of our company. We have new products across multiple collections that address the continued evolution of design, moving away from the older technology of block patterns to full-board designs in products ranging from 3 1/2 inches to almost 8 inches, new formats and new finishes, which include new textures and gloss levels.


What do you think about when you can’t sleep?

Continuing to find ways to communicate that everything we do in our business is with the end user in mind. We are all about delivering great products. If I could bring every consumer into my house, with two small boys and a floor that looks as good today as it did seven and a half years ago, we’d sell every consumer in America a Wilsonart floor.