Armstrong Focuses on Moulding Accessories

Lancaster, PA, September 27--Once regarded as merely a functional item, moulding accessories are now making a fashion statement and are starting to share the limelight with the vast array of flooring styles available in today’s market. By up-selling these items, distributors and retailers are discovering they can increase their profit margins 30-40% while providing retailers with a more streamlined and cost effective way to increase their bottom line. Customer satisfaction also is becoming greatly enhanced through smooth purchasing and installation processes and ultimately a beautifully finished look to their floors. “Retailers should take moulding accessories into consideration as part of the integral flooring project before customers make their purchase. This is especially true when choosing hardwood flooring as it is critical for trim and moulding to match the wood species, color and finish of the actual floor,” says Tim Gaalswyk, product manager, Armstrong Floor Products. Armstrong has the largest trim and moulding selection on the market with 22+ wood species, 26 different profiles, 225 colors and many distressed and hand-sculpted patterns, all designed specifically to coordinate with every Bruce, Hartco and Robbins floor. It also offers moulding accessories for every type of floor from vinyl to linoleum, laminate to ceramic with an array of colors and textures to add as decorative accents to the overall flooring design. “Moulding accessories have been an afterthought much to retailers’ disadvantage. By selling the finished job up front – that is - ordering the right quantity, style and color moulding accessories along with the desired flooring, retailers avoid frustrating delays that come from price misquoting, color and species mismatching and incorrect measurements that can ruin customer relations further along in the process,” says Gaalswyk. Armstrong is one of the few companies in the industry to fully address this virtually untapped product category with its “Just in Time” program that offers important benefits for distributors, retailers and consumers alike. Armstrong is making what was previously a complicated process more profitable by reducing distributors’ inventories, simplifying sales for retailers, saving time for installers and reducing customer frustration. Armstrong offers its distributors the convenience of stocking one brand of moulding accessories for three different brands of floors thereby reducing inventory and simplifying sales. It also has reduced its pack sizes for all new products from 10 pieces to 5 pieces for all profiles, except Quarter Rounds. This gives more flexibility when ordering quantities needed, eliminating leftovers and reducing costs. In addition, the “Just in Time” program allows retailers to speed up the ordering process by delivering the product directly to the site, getting it there overnight instead of taking several days to get to its destination. Quality installation and cost-effectiveness is assured by Armstrong because it provides expert moulding accessories installation training in its Armstrong Installation School. “It takes less time to educate our installers up front than it does to fix one customer moulding issue,” says Gaalswyk. Armstrong manufactures the following types of moulding accessories: oQuarter Round, a 78” moulding, covers the needed expansion space between walls and hardwood flooring. oT-Moulding, a 78” transition, is used to transition floors of the same height and in doorways to join wood floors in adjoining rooms. oBaby Threshold, a 78” transition, is used between a wood floor and high pile carpeting or thick ceramic tile. It is also used along fireplaces, sliding glass doors and large thresholds. oReducer (Flush), a 78” transition, is used for thicker to thinner floors such as wood to vinyl, ceramic tile or low pile carpeting.

Related Topics:Lumber Liquidators, Armstrong Flooring

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