Atlantic City, N.J.—After kicking off its “Covering New Ground—National Product Tour 2004” in Hollywood, Fla., the previous week, Mohawk Industries moved its show on the road to the Borgata Hotel Casino & Spa here from Dec. 9 to 11 for its Mid-Atlantic Regional show. And, with more than 2,200 people registered for the event—two-thirds of them retailers—Mohawk officials expected and got quite a bang for their buck. “We believe the show has gone tremendously well,” said Jeff Lubinsky, Mohawk’s Northeastern regional sales manager. “Every comment we’ve had from our dealers has been very exciting. It’s a nice venue and the dealers were looking for a place where they could see our products in their entirety. One of the best things we have going for us is, most of our reps are here.

“Even when we went to Surfaces,” he explained, “we’ve never had our reps there; we’ve had our managers there. In our industry, the territory reps still have that relationship with the customer. When they come here there are lots of people who know the customers. “We have a large amount of people who have registered to come here,” he added. “We feel we made the right decision and I think our customers are responding by the orders that we are getting.” In addition to a large number of people in attendance—including Mohawk’s top 100 dealers from the area on the event’s first day—the three-day affair showcased quite a bit of product including the mill’s latest hardwood and ceramic tile introductions, as well as a wide spectrum of soft surface goods.

The show is one of about half-a-dozen larger events scheduled. Mohawk plans to conduct more than 40 shows across the U.S. and Canada by the time the product tour wraps up at the end of February. “Indications are that the economy is picking up speed, and there’s a tremendous opportunity for our dealers to freshen up showrooms with new products and ideas to take advantage of consumer interest and growing consumer confidence,” said Ed Williams, senior vice president of marketing. “Our approach of regional meetings is allowing us to address each dealer’s needs much more personally, and help each one discover what’s going to work best.”

Williams said that Mohawk’s introductions for 2004 are structured to provide retailers with remarkable flexibility. “We’ve looked carefully at how our price points are positioned, and we worked hard this year to give stores more ways to move seamlessly between product lines,” he said. “Where we felt we had gaps, we created products that bridged them. And if you look at our lines now, you’ll see ways to impact consumers with exciting products at any price.” Williams said that in carpet, last year’s realignment of residential products into three collections— Aladdin, Horizon and Wunda Weve —did much to strengthen Mohawk’s overall brand position. “This year’s introductions strengthen the organization. In hardwood and laminates, new products also expand the line and make connections between offerings. In ceramic tile, new stone-look products continue the national expansion of Mohawk’s growing ceramic tile program.

“We have some new ideas this year that you’d consider revolutionary,” he added. “But there are also revolutionary products in the line—and they give dealers just as much opportunity to improve sales and profitability.” And, Williams noted, the Mohawk brand is stronger than ever. “Our research showed that in the last year, Mohawk brand awareness among consumers has increased more than 38%. We have worked hard on branding for the last decade, and it’s paying off well for us and our dealers. As we look at 2004, we believe this brand position is going to be particularly valuable on the retail sales floor.” “At the show last week and this one, we are seeing a lot of activity,” said Roger Farabee, vice president of marketing for ceramic tile. “The dealers are very upbeat about the economy and the direction that the market is going in so we are seeing people starting to purchase again and stock up.

“So, the shows have been very much what we had been hoping for in terms of not only attendance but what the customers are doing here,” he added. “And they are interested in new product categories —people who weren’t selling ceramic tile, for example, are buying racks and are really starting to get into hard surface the way we would like.” Farabee noted, some of the new ceramic products dealers were interested in at the show included Borghesi, a rustic glazed porcelain floor and coordinating wall tile in four colors which features the look of antique Jerusalem Stone and is available in 13-in. and 18-in. floor sizes and 10X13-in. and 6-in. wall sizes; and Stone Trace, a soft, rustic glazed porcelain floor tile offered in Cream, Beige or Walnut, derived from stone around Mt. Ararat in 6-1/2-in., 13-in. and 20-in. sizes.

Steppington, a light rustic 2-in. glazed mosaic line; Ristano, a satin glazed floor and coordinating wall tile with the look of Italian Rapol-ano Stone, and Monticino, a glazed porcelain floor with the look of Italian travertine in 13-in. and 20-in. floor sizes also proved to be very popular with the dealers. New hardwood products for 2004 include additions to the American Craftsman collection. Westbrook Oak features an eased edge design to minimize floor irregularities, and three standard colors with a 10-year finish warranty. Sheffield Oak, a select cut of 2-1/4-in. wide northern hardwood is also new as is Dillard Oak and Tinsley Oak, each made from a select cut of 3-in. wide northern hardwood.

Mohawk also has new designs in its other engineered collections including American Heritage and Heirloom, as well as its solid American Craftsman, Continental Exotics and Natural Inspirations Long-strip collections. In addtion Mohawk offered attendees several introductions throughout its three residential carpet divisions. “This is the most comprehensive upgrade to our soft surface business that we have done in recent years,” said Williams. “Our realignment last year has proven very successful with helping position our products. This year, we are fine-tuning each division so that they offer maximum impact for our specialty dealers and optimum choices and value for consumers.”

Attendees were very impressed with the amount of product Mohawk had to offer. “I would have to say there is even more product here than I thought would be,” said Ellen Liber, design consultant for CB Flooring in Columbia, Md. “It’s a lot.” “The show has been very well organized,” said Jina Ames who, along with her husband, Mitchell, own and operate The Carpet Yard in McLean, Va. “The reps have been very accessible and readily available. Everything, all the products have been clearly presented.” “The show has been pretty good,” said Mitchell Ames. “The prices have been very good. With hardwood taking off the way it has in our area, it’s been good to see what Mohawk has available at this show.”

“We ordered several new display racks, some roll specials and we also found some things that we were interested in that we didn’t know were out there. For example, the DuraStone tile line from Congoleum. We’re thinking about taking that line on, as it might be good for our area. We’re selling a lot more hard surface where we are, including a lot more ceramic tile and hardwood, and laminates have been really big. Our customers like the ceramic and slate-look laminates. For more information on Mohawk’s “Covering New Ground” product tour, call 800/241-4900.