By Louis Iannaco
As the power and use of the Internet become more palpable to the business world each day, so does the savvy the retailers have in using it as a marketing tool for their operations. Even the flooring industry, which has seen some of its more reluctant dealers enter the computer age kicking and screaming, now has more Internet-savvy dealers making more profitable use of the Web than ever before in order to help their brick and mortar businesses.
“We use television commercials to advertise Shaw’s Web-based program called, “Try On A Floor,’” said Len Zimmerman, president of Classic Carpets & Interiors in Greenville, S.C. “We offer our customers the opportunity to see their floor covering on large flat screen televisions before they buy. We also offer monthly sales on all flooring products sold in our showroom on our Web site.
“In addition,” he explained, “we feature a photo album of our showroom, so customers can see that we offer a wide selection of flooring products as well as a clean and friendly atmosphere in a state of the art showroom. Lastly, a directional map to Classic Carpets is located on our home page.”
Other dealers, such as Harry Schillings, president of Spring Carpets in Houston, did not initially believe a Web site was the way to go for his business. “I always thought Web sites wouldn’t work as a viable sales tool for selling floor coverings simply because I believed people had to ‘touch’ a product before actually purchasing it, but that was before we had flooring stores on every corner, so to speak, not to mention all the big box stores.
Possibly the best marketing tool
“Touching the product was never so low on the totem pole of priorities to a customer as it is now,” he explained. “It seems touching and seeing the product has moved down the process of actually buying the product. With that said, we must all do the best job we can of presenting our companies without an actual visit. Word of mouth is great, but a good Web site may be better. Ours shows directions to our stores, hours of operation, key facts about the products and services we offer and offers a lot of visuals. But, most importantly, I personally answer every Web site inquiry, and that is very powerful.”
According to Gary Cissell, director of flooring for Nebraska Furniture Mart, doing things nobody else does plays a key role to success on the Web. “We built a unique way to display our circulars online. We wanted the customer to engage our online ad the same way they do when they get it as an insert in her local newspaper. We call it Flip Ad. Then, to promote it, we advertised a link to it on the local newspaper Web sites. More and more people get their news online, and we wanted to make sure she still had the opportunity to view our circulars.
“We receive a huge amount of traffic each day to nfm.com,” he explained. “We advertise our current promotions and in-store events on the front page and throughout the site. We’ve developed an opt-in e-mail program called, Mart Deals. We send out two or three e-mails a month announcing special offers and events, some of them being exclusive to the participants of the program.”
Dealers are noticing sometimes it is best to go through some trials and tribulations before settling in on a Web direction that is best suited for their businesses. “I am a firm believer in utilizing a good Web site for my business,” said Schillings. “For the past five years, I had my own custom built Web site made by my computer tech guy, but his personal experience, or should I say access to creating a user-friendly Web site was nominal at best. Even with my input, we could not do what I wanted or felt good about in terms of representing what my company was all about.
Mill help
“Then, after much frustration,” he recalled, “I called on Shaw’s Web site people, headed by
Steve Abernathy, to go ahead and fully incorporate Shaw’s Web Express design to take over my company’s site. It has been a huge change for us ever since. It continues to take weekly hits and inquiries our old site never succeeded in doing.” Why? “Simple. Shaw, much like Mohawk’s ‘partnered Web site,’ has all the tools we need to grab a customer’s attention quickly and powerfully. All a dealer has to do is work to make sure the correct information on what we have to offer is included on the site.
“Most people are interested in seeing a few quick points about a dealer when making an inquiry, such as location, hours, products, good photos and/or simple fact,” Schillings continued. “With a customer, it’s important we make a fast and powerful impression with the cover page of our site, and ‘Hot Buttons’ are a must. Features such as ‘Special Buys’ and ‘Try on a floor’ are just a few that grab a customer’s attention quickly.”
Schillings is extremely pleased with the results he has seen from Shaw’s Web program. “Inquiries are at two to five a day for my business now as opposed to two to five a month with our old site. This is due to a mixture of both the Web Express sites from Shaw, which could just as well be Mohawk’s, as well as the move of more households to utilize Web sites for their pre-purchase shopping. We must make our store as presentable as if that site browsing customer was entering our showroom. And that is now becoming more possible for dealers like myself, thanks to companies like Shaw.”
Positive results
Zimmerman is happy with the benefits he has seen as a result of his company’s site as well. “Classic Carpets’ use of the Web as a marketing tool has created more residential traffic and sales as well as differentiated us from our competitors, who rely on only traditional forms of marketing. Our site features a direct link with Shaw Flooring along with all of our supplier and vendor partners.”
Cissell agreed with Zimmerman, saying “reach” has been key to the Mart’s successful use of Web site technology. “We connect with more people by having an online presence.”
