Armstrong's Laminate Display

It was the flooring retail version of the Coke vs. Pepsi taste test. Eric Mondgran, hard surface buyer for R.C. Willey, laid samples of laminate and hardwood flooring on his showroom floor and asked his wife to distinguish between the two. She picked up two planks and pointed out which was the laminate and which was hardwood. The piece she thought was hardwood was actually laminate. So was the other plank. Mondgran said most consumers who come into the Salt Lake City store are similarly stumped.

Retailers often do the same thing with their customers. Roger Wilson, co-owner of Nampa Floors in Idaho, merchandises wood and laminates side-by-side. “It shocks people that they think laminate is wood,” he said. “It is getting real close.”

Nampa Floors, with three stores, recently moved into a 42,000-square-foot location, which includes 10,000 square feet of showroom space. The move has allowed the dealer to greatly expand its laminate presence. It uses a tower merchandising system that allows consumers to easily visualize the products. But it often comes down to laying the planks on the floor and doing a comparison.

The best method for merchandising laminate depends on the product, according to Al Boulogne, product manager, laminate business at Mannington. “In our Fashion Center Display we show the good and better part of our line in a waterfall format so the consumer can get a sense of color range and selection within those basic laminate platforms (mostly 8- inch-wide multi-strip planks),” he said.

“Once you move into the upper end and the character planks and tile, it is so important to show off a significant amount of product. That’s why we choose to display that part of our line in a page-turner format. With characteristics like irregular bevels, patterns with 13 unique plank designs, modular stone layouts, precise EIR, etc., it is important to help the consumer understand the styling differences. Those features contribute to the realism of the product so it’s vital to convey that in our merchandising.”

R.C. Willey’s Mondgran said because there are numerous me-too products in the laminate category today, the tower system works best because it can allow for up to 18 samples to be viewed. “This system makes it easy to shop a floor out, where you can rotate samples,” he said.

Other retailers note that with laminate flooring, as with other surfaces, it is important for consumers to touch and feel the product. But unlike other products, there is another sense that is important when merchandising laminate: the sound.

“Laminate may look like wood or stone, but it doesn’t sound like either,” said Sam O’Krent, CEO of O’Krent’s Abbey Flooring Center, San Antonio. At O’Krent’s 34,000-square-foot store, about 3,000 square feet is devoted to laminate. The sound of laminate is distinctive among flooring surfaces.

O’Krent said if the customer does not bring up the sound element of laminate, his salespeople will, lest the customer complain about it later on. “It also gives us an opportunity to sell underlayment, and that too sounds different depending on the particular product,” he said.

O’Krent uses different display units from manufacturers but likes laying out the laminate floor to simulate a customer’s home. West Coast retailer Lee Horowitz, who owns three Big Bob’s outlets and three Flooring America stores, sets up his laminate displays on pallets, in which three to five pieces are placed on a board to simulate what a floor would look like in a home. This method has worked well at his cash-and-carry stores because the majority of customers install the product themselves. “If they choose not to, we have installers on hand who can measure and contract with the customer,” he said. “Either way, they get a great value.”

Big Bob’s carries about a dozen laminate brands, separated by price points and textures. “The price points vary among entry and mid level; and the textures, which sell well, show varying degrees of character,” Horowitz said.

His Flooring America stores use big board displays for laminate flooring as well as manufacturer units. Every display must carry the 5-Star Flooring America label, according to Horowitz, which guarantees a 60-day, no-questions-asked policy on material and labor. If the display unit does not have that 5-Star label, he will not carry it.

At Flooring Designs, Jacksonville, N.C., co-owner Wendy Lyles displays laminate on 6- to 7-foot racks with metal holders, which display 18 x 18 or 12 x 16 boards so customers can easily pull them out and feel the texture. “We have 25 samples, and it is easy to see what color it is with this type of display we use,” she said. “It’s important for the customer to feel the product.”