January 15, 2006—From Domotex 2006 in Hannover, WeiKang Chen President of Guangzhou Panyu Kangda Board, a Chinese wood flooring producer, talking with interpreter cloud, discusses the company its goals, its plans in the U.S. and its expansion in Europe, the availability and cost of raw materials, the expansion of the Chinese wood flooring market and the potential of the for U.S. producers.
January 12, 2006—Industry speaker and Marketing Wit and Wisdom, President Jon Trivers provides a most interesting look at this week’s acquisition by Home Depot of franchise carpet and upholster cleaner Chem-Dry. Trivers looks at Home Depot’s entry into the maintenance business not only as a revenue producer, but as a very effective means of marketing floor coverings. He looks at another possibility, for the major retailer, a possibility that could result in thousands of floor covering stores throughout the country marketing floor coverings under the Home Depot banner, as franchise dealers.
January 11, 2006—Jeff Bishop, consultant and President of Clean Care Seminars looks at Home Depot’s recently announced acquisition of franchise carpet and upholstery cleaning company Chem-Dry. Bishop discusses Chem-Dry the company, its history and its position in the maintenance arena, what he feels Home Depot must do to be successful in this arena and how he this acquisition might ultimately affect the maintenance community. Bishop also looks at some of the changes in the maintenance sector in the last 12 months, including x-ray fluorescence technology.
January 10, 2006—Floor Focus magazine publisher Frank O’Neill discusses the two acquisitions announced by Home Depot this week, that of Chem-Dry and of Hughes Supply. Relating to the Chem-Dry acquisition discussed are the possible affects on both the maintenance and the carpet sectors, the possibilities created by Home Depot’s entrée into the franchising arena and what possibilities that could hold for the remainder of the At-Home Services unit at Home Depot. Looking at the $3.2 billion acquisition of Hughes Supply discusses it the dramatic expansion of the company’s supply unit, and the potential avenues of growth for the future. Also discussed is the acquisition of SI by Propex.
January 9, 2006—Lew Migliore, the industry’s trouble shooter, and president of LGM Technical Carpet Surfaces, discusses two flooring problems he was called in on, one dealing with a carpet spill and a stain-resist warranty, one involving “corn rowing” in a shag-type carpet. Migliore also discusses an LGM service of carpet testing during the specification process
January 9, 2006—John McDevitt, retired 3M corporate economist, in the second part of a two-part series looks at Friday’s unemployment and jobs report, and its impact on the economy. McDevitt also discusses: the housing market, to what degree it will cool in 2005, and how that cooling will affect other segments of the economy; the construction market in 2006, and the segments that hold the greatest promise of growth this year; the consumer of 2006 and his expectations for retail spending during the year. McDevitt also discusses raw materials, rebuilding along the Gulf coast, the Federal Reserve and its concerns for 2006, and what preserving the tax cuts really means to investment and the economy.
January 8, 2006—In an archives presentation, Jon Trivers, Marketing Wit & Wisdom, in a continuation of a conversation initiated last week,looks at the Kmart/Sears deal and discussing is potential for success. Jon also talks about the Internet and its potential for growth in the floor covering industry and in retailing in general.
January 8, 2006—In an archives presentation, Doug Chatterdon, President & CEO, Great Floors, a 17-store chain operating in the Northwest, discusses the company’s big store concept, competition, including Home Depot and Lowe’s, the company’s approach to service, gauging success, his take on the American flooring consumer, technology and dealing with flooring suppliers.
January 8, 2006—In an archives presentation, John Simonson, Internet expert and President of website development firm WebStream Dynamics, in a FloorRadio archive interview, provides an update on the dramatic growth of the Internet in both the number of websites and the number of regular users, as well as the expanding opportunities for advertising on the Internet. Simonson looks at how Internet shoppers typical use search engines and discusses some of the latest search tools, such as the local search features available on Google and other search engines, which represent a prime opportunity for independent retailers. Click here to view a live Flash demonstration of pay-per-click advertising on Google.
January 6, 2006—John McDevitt, retired 3M Corporate Economist, looks at Friday’s unemployment and jobs report, and its impact on the economy. McDevitt also discusses: the housing market and to what degree it will cool in 2006, and how that cooling will affect other segments of the economy; the construction market in 2006 and the segments that hold the greatest promise of growth this year; the consumer of 2006 and his expectations for retail spending during the year. McDevitt also discusses raw materials prices, rebuilding in the Gulf coast area, the Federal Reserve and its concerns for 2006, and what preserving the tax cuts really means to investment and the economy.