Floor Focus Magazine

Visual, Insightful, Trusted Resource

Floor Focus is a monthly magazine of analysis and education for the floor covering industry's interconnected business sectors: retailers, distributors, contract dealers, manufacturers, architects, designers, facility managers and commercial end users. While Floor Daily gives you the news, Floor Focus tells you what the news means for your business.

   Surfaces Sourcebook 2008 - January 2008   Full Article
  This year, Surfaces is back to its original schedule, from Tuesday, January 29, to Friday, February 1, with the show floor opening on January 30. As of late December, the expo was already 97% sold out with about 1,000 registered exhibitors.

   Beyond Las Vegas - January 2008   Full Article
  This is the fifth year that the three biggest players—Shaw, Mohawk and Armstrong—have opted to showcase their products in venues other than Surfaces, mostly through regional shows.

   The Backing Business - January 2008   Full Article
  Over the last three years, the backings industry has been restructured, both by major acquisitions that vertically integrated Shaw and Mohawk, and by huge increases in energy and raw material costs.

Other FloorFocus Articles
Education: A Closer Look - January 2008   Full Article
The education market is really two distinct market segments with a common objective—educating students. It’s generally split into K-12 and higher education but there are as many differences between them as there are similarities.

People Power - January 2008   Full Article
Believe it or not, it’s generally during economic downturns that creativity and ingenuity flourish.

Best Practices - January 2008   Full Article
Success often comes to those who do things a little differently and that’s exactly what we found at Capital Carpet and Tile located on the southeast coast of Florida about 50 miles north of Miami.

Distribution Evolution - January 2008   Full Article
The fallout from the housing downturn is having a big impact on the floorcovering industry these days. All along the distribution chain, companies are struggling.

Review 2007 - December 2007   Full Article
It’s been a year of upheaval and consolidation in the floorcovering industry.

Contract Dealers' Survey 2007 - December 2007   Full Article
The commercial economy is far different today than it was two years ago, when we last took our survey of the nation’s top contract dealers.

Area Rugs & Hard Surfaces Sales - December 2007   Full Article
When a retailer sells a hard surface floor, selling an area rug to go with it should be easy.

GreenBuild 2007 - December 2007   Full Article
Looking back, 2007 will be remembered as the year the GreenBuild International Conference and Expo became a national event.

Retail Technology - December 2007   Full Article
An effective website is one of the most necessary and valuable tools a flooring retailer of any size can have in his marketing tool kit.

Distribution Evolution - December 2007   Full Article
As long as the Fed continues to cut interest rates, don’t expect gasoline prices to come down. And be prepared for raw material costs to soar even higher, resulting in higher product prices.

Rethink and Retool Your Business - 08 Guide   Full Article
Worried that the economy and the retail front are changing? Stop worrying, they’re always changing.

Learn to Talk About Color/Texture - 08 Guide   Full Article
Color is often a major stumbling block in the flooring sales transaction. Make sure your customers know that you recognize the flooring is a fashion item.

Making Money With Carpet - 08 Retailers' Guide   Full Article
As a professional in the flooring business, it is often difficult to gauge how much change has occurred in a five year period.

Making Money With Resilient - 08 Retailers' Guide   Full Article
Resilient used to be considered a cheap alternative for shoppers on a budget. Not anymore.

Making Money With Laminate - 08 Retailers' Guide   Full Article
Try to avoid positioning laminate flooring as an inexpensive alternative. Customers will think it’s inferior. And they’ll think it isn’t real.

Making Money With Ceramic - 08 Retailers' Guide   Full Article
Ceramic and porcelain tile use here in the U.S. has tripled in the last 12 years. Consumers are drawn to its natural elegance, not to mention its durability.

Making Money With Hardwood - 08 Retailers' Guide   Full Article
Your customer comes in looking for a wood floor. Are you prepared to introduce her to the world of traditional species like oak and maple, and also the increasing popular exotics?

Making Money With Area Rugs - 08 Retailers' Guide   Full Article
Pick a floor. Any floor. It can probably use a rug. Area rugs pull any room décor together.

2007 Retail Display Awards - November 2007   Full Article
How a product is displayed often plays a major role in whether or not it is sold.

Focus 100 Retail - November 2007   Full Article
After years of strong growth, thanks in large part to the most robust housing market in history, conditions have gotten tough in the residential flooring business.

Cersaie 2007 - November 2007   Full Article
Since the majority of tile sold in the U.S. comes from Italy, it makes sense that the foremost trade show for that industry is in Bologna, Italy.

Installation For Profit - November 2007   Full Article
Installation may be the floorcovering industry’s biggest problem, but according to master carpet installer Jim Walker it can also be a retailer’s biggest asset.

Distribution Evolution - November 2007   Full Article
One of the more interesting observations I took away from last month’s Top 250 Design Survey: the dramatic increase in the number of hard surface manufacturers designers are specifying these days.

People Power - November 2007   Full Article
One of the questions I’m asked frequently in my interaction with dealers is, “How can I, as an owner, manager, or leader, influence the performance of my team?”

Shop Talk - November 2007   Full Article
Visual merchandising is the art and science of displaying products on the sales floor and in windows to increase store traffic and sales volume.

Top 250 Design Survey 2007 - October 2007   Full Article
This year’s survey leaves little doubt that the commercial market has remained stronger and more diversified than ever for a third year in a row.

Target: The Luxury Market - October 2007   Full Article
While Shaw, Mohawk and Beaulieu dominate the carpet manufacturing sector with roughly 80% of revenues, many smaller boutique mills are thriving in the luxury residential market.

2007 Hardwood Update - October 2007   Full Article
Like other segments of the floorcovering industry, U.S. hardwood manufacturers are bracing themselves for a rough ride the rest of this year and probably for most of 2008.

Electronic Business Solutions - October 2007   Full Article
What product in your store right now generates the highest profit margin? Do you know your best selling carpet style?

Best Practices - October 2007   Full Article
A ten step formula has been instrumental in Frank DiFiglia’s success in building a 20,000 square foot showroom in Howell, New Jersey into a $5 million business.

Distribution Evolution - October 2007   Full Article
In the last issue I reported that Home Depot got lucky because I thought it managed to sell HD Supply before the credit markets collapsed. But I was wrong.

Shop Talk - October 2007   Full Article
Have you embraced the idea that if you sell floorcoverings, your best customers are women?

Wood Cuts - October 2007   Full Article
One of the first decisions a wood floor customer has to make is between a site finished and factory finished floor.

2007 Sustainability Report - August/September 2007   Full Article
Regardless of the obstacles, the greening of the carpet industry has become an unstoppable force.

Carpet Tile: 50 Years Later - Aug/Sep 2007   Full Article
The first carpet tile was made 50 years ago by a small Dutch company called Heuga.

Laminate Update 2007 - August/September 2007   Full Article
It probably comes as no surprise that the slump in the housing market has sent sales of laminate plummeting in the last year, with the biggest drop-off in the first half of this year.

Best Practices - August/September 2007   Full Article
Most retailers probably wouldn’t make huge changes to their business when sales are strong.

People Power - August/September 2007   Full Article
In a recent meeting in Houston, I gathered with a group of key dealers to discuss issues that impacted their success.

Distribution Evolution - August/September 2007   Full Article
If you read July’s feature, The 2007 Retail Survey, you know that there aren’t a whole lot of optimistic retailers out there these days, except maybe in the Pacific Northwest.

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