June 9, 2003—Werner Braun, President, Carpet & Rug Institute discusses the association’s new core message, “Carpet for a Better Environment” which will serve as an umbrella for the many messages. Braun also provides an update on some of the tools used by the organization to spread the word.
June 9, 2003—Jon Trivers, Marketing Wit & Wisdom discusses some of the floor covering merchandising tactics used by Home Depot and how independents can compete; Wal-Mart’s adventure into floor covering and why it didn’t work and the possibilities for the divesture of DuPont Textiles & Interiors.
June 8, 2003—Jon Trivers, Marketing Wit & Wisdom discusses the recently reported expansion of The Floor Store, Home Depot's rarely discussed, stand alone floor covering store, first launched three years ago in Dallas. Trivers shares his expectations for the program and answers the question: What can Home Depot hope to achieve in a free-standing floor store it can’t achieve inside the big box? Trivers also offers some looks at what independent retailers can learn from Home Depot pronouncements.
June 5, 2003—Mike Barker, Investment and Retirement Management looks at the prime reasons why the Federal Reserve has been working to keep interest rates so low, and if the Fed is likely to reduce rates even further. Barker also discusses the significance of the Dow breaking 9,000 and the EU Central Bank cutting interest rates yesterday.
June 4, 2003—Frank O’Neill, Publisher, Floor Focus Magazine and Dave Foster, Host, FloorRadio discuss:Mohawk’s announcement that it will opt out of Surfaces 2004; Armstrong World Industries expectations for a mid-November hearing for its reorganization plan; Lowe’s annual meeting and its focus on higher-end products and its plan of doubling installation income by 2005.
June 4, 2003—Dean Marcarelli, COO, Carpet One discusses the co-op’s performance this year and last, its growth plans and its long and short term goals. Marcarell also talks about competing with the big-box players, Carpet One's advertising program, the Select-A-Floor program and its expansion into laminate, consumer wants and needs,and changes in the fiber sector.
June 3, 2003—Scott Sandlin, VP, Marketing, Shaw Industries Industries discusses, the company’s focus on the use of technology to market itself, the advantages to dealers of conducting business via the Internet; what is necessary for dealers to make that transition; the company’s most recent offerings and the seasonal manner with which the company now introduces new products and programs.
June 1, 2003—From Koester America Corp., President Harald Muench and VP Charles King discuss the dos and don’ts of sealants, when they should and should not be used, the changing attitude that contractors and facilities managers are developing toward sealants and the rational toward applying sealants as an safeguard from potential problems in the future.
May 29, 2003—Kemp Harr, Director, Marketing, SI Flooring Systems, discusses business levels in the current quarter, PatternLok 3.0, the newest in commercial backing from SI including the products sustainability story and the company’s planned rollout of at Neocon. Harr also provided an update on the company’s premium residential backing, SoftBac and a look at the future of carpet backings.
May 29, 2003—Mike Barker, Investment and Retirement Management looks at the state of the current market, signs to look for that may indicate a change in the market, elements upon, which the market is keying, the “liquefying” of the market by the Fed, a look ahead at the upcoming earnings season, and making sense of the current economic news.