Alliance Flooring Convention Focuses on 'Green'

Chattanooga, TN, March 10, 2008--Alliance Flooring Inc. recently held its 2008 Convention in Atlanta, Feb. 23-26.

The theme of the Convention was “Nextwork: Innovate in ‘08”. Members were encouraged to focus on 13 action items to improve business and gain market share during seminars and breakout sessions.

The overarching merchandising themes for the group were “green” hardwood and products made in America. The two biggest introductions were hard surface companions to the group’s brands EcoChoice and American Classics.

“We felt it was time to focus our efforts on strengthening our hard surface merchandising, beginning with hardwood,” said Kevin Logue, vice president of marketing for Alliance Flooring.

In other business, Alan Peters of Wells Fargo said its research indicated that instead of paying a higher price for a no pay, no interest finance offer, dealers should consider offering a no interest with minimum payment plan. “We’re finding that many times consumers are paying minimum payments anyway so dealers should not pay extra to offer a no pay option,” Peters said.

Retailer of the Year Award Winners

Mark and Mary Ann Dougherty of Hoosier CarpetsPlus in Bloomington, Ind., won Retailer of the Year for the group’s CarpetsPlus Color Tile division. Kevin Rose of Carpetland USA in Rockford, Ill. won for the Carpetland Color Tile division and Wendy Werner, Floorco of Milwaukee, won Floorco Business Owner of the Year.