By Steven Feldman
DALTON— Beaulieu of America, the largest carpet-only manufacturer in North America, is not letting the economy get in the way of its momentum. The company continues to refresh itself with new products, programs and merchandising that resonate with consumers.

“Although we are the smallest of the three major carpet mills, we are constantly looking to come up with something different, whether it’s style or some consumer benefit to give the retailer reasons for putting our product on the floor,” said Ralph Boe, president and CEO.

Consolidation has made innovation critical for Beaulieu—and the other mills as well. The only other option is for the carpet industry to fall victim to mistakes that plagued the auto industry when it went through a series of consolidations, mistakes that would forever change that industry.

“When the auto industry consolidated, it focused on efficiencies and didn’t concentrate on new styling, amenities or quality, which pulled in competitors from off shore,” he said. “We are prone to the same possibilities if we don’t continue to do things differently.”

With that said, leading the way for 2008 are a pair of major initiatives: a new product launch and totally innovative merchandising system and brand.

Healthy Home and Ultimate Home are the collections that Jeff Meadows, executive vice president, residential, claims no retailer has ever seen before— from Beaulieu or any other manufacturer.

“Healthy Home is the ultimate environmental story,” he said. It features a copper and silver ion that’s encapsulated in the fiber, which inhibits bacteria and prevents the growth of mold and mildew. It also contains Magic Fresh, which removes odor from the air, even from pipes and cigarettes. “If a consumer’s top-of-mind awareness is allergies or germs, this will be the best carpet for her.” Furthering the environmental story is that Healthy Home is constructed of PET polyester, made from recycled plastic bottles that would otherwise have gone to a landfill.

Healthy Home’s counterpart, Ultimate Home, is constructed of solution-dyed residential nylon. “It is high performance, easier to clean and feels like cotton,” Meadows said. Healthy Home features six styles and retails for $17 to $24 uninstalled, while Ultimate Home offers 10 styles in the $23 to $31 range.

Bliss by Beaulieu is the new consumer-focused, female-friendly brand and with it comes a new merchandising system, the result of nine months of extensive consumer research that sought to “find out where the consumer’s head is at in terms of purchasing carpet,” Meadows said. “We tapped into her frustrations and started building solutions. As we built solutions we would re-test with focus groups and tweak a little further.”

What Beaulieu discovered was that not unlike other products a consumer purchases as infrequently as every seven or eight years, she doesn’t know much about carpet.

“When she goes to flooring stores she finds a sea of sameness,” said Patricia Flavin, senior vice president, marketing. “There are multiple racks, all kinds of styles, and she doesn’t know where to start. She doesn’t recognize any of the brands. She doesn’t understand why one carpet costs more than another. She finds it difficult to select color. She often can’t take home samples. Then she has to rely on male retail sales associates who she may have an issue with. There is a lack of trust, yet she yearns for validation.”

Armed with this type of research, Beaulieu determined it needed to provide solutions for not only her, but retail salespeople as well. The answer was Bliss.

“This is a different way to shop for carpet,” Meadows said. “It is the ultimate consumer experience brand. The displays are all color walled, categories are separated, and within each category are certain solutions. We call it shopping logic. It’s a 1-2-Done selection system.”

Basically, the consumer selects color and product. After that she has style and warranty options, made easy in a good/better/best/premium format, justified by weight and length of warranty. (For more on Bliss, see the Feb. 25/March 3 issue of FCNews).

Research also revealed consumers like a display where all color options are at eye level. At the end of the day, Bliss responds to all consumer concerns, Flavin said. “She gets a brand name that resonates with her, color options at eye level, an easy trade-up system and a hassle-free way to take home swatches.” And with unaided awareness in the carpet category remaining below 20% for any mill, Beaulieu believes the Bliss brand creates a huge opportunity for the company.

It’s also a win-win for the consumer and retailer. “The payoff to the consumer is an easy selection process resulting in the confidence she made the right choice,” Meadows said. “The payoff to the salesperson is an easier close and better chance of driving a higher ticket.”

With the Bliss rollout comes a revamped aligned dealer program. “We have spent the last two years redefining what our aligned program should be, and we are re-launching that as Complete Bliss,” Meadows said.

“We will keep the program more limited—less than 1,000 dealers. We are looking for dealers who are willing to commit to a minimum amount of volume and who will prominently display the total collection of Bliss products in their showroom. This way the program makes sense for them and us.”

Competitive advantages

Being the third largest mill affords Beualieu certain competitive advantages in the marketplace. In fact, in talking with Boe and Meadows, five were pinpointed.

1. People. “We are a small big business,” Meadows said. “Every customer I talk to will tell me Beaulieu is the only carpet company I call and get someone on the phone, whether it be for claims, financial services or customer service. We have a lot of long-tenured employees— people who go the extra mile for the company and our customers.”

2. Vertical intergration. Beaulieu was the first carpet manufacturer to vertically integrate on the polypropylene side by extruding its own polypropylene chip. It then moved into nylon extrusion and was the first carpet mill to have its own backing companies. “The advantage is that makes Beaulieu a very low cost producer,” Meadows said, “and that’s an advantage for the dealer because he can buy at a more competitive price and make better margins.”

3. Polyester position. “Polypropylene had always been a greater percentage of our business than the industry average,” Boe said. “Now we are repositioning ourselves to have a much higher percentage of polyester BCF to capitalize on what we see as the growth area of carpet in the future.”

4. Support. “Customers are pulling for us because they want a third major alternative in the marketplace,” Meadows said.

5. Quality. “We have as good a quality as anyone in the industry right now,” Meadows said.