NFA: The Full Report

[Nashville, Tenn.] National Floorcovering Alliance (NFA) retailers are among the strongest in North America. Because members are from all different regions, it gives them a powerful perspective on the industry as a whole — from the challenges they face to products they get behind, they are a benchmark for the specialty retail marketplace.

Metroflor’s Keith Kannapel shows The Floor Store’s Larry Flick the new display for its magnetic flooring Attraxion.

FCW had the opportunity to sit with the board after its two-minute drill session, where each member shared key points in their business. Here, the board — Eric Mondragon from RC Willey Home Furnishings, Ian Newton from Flooring 101, Larry Flick from The Floor Store, Darren Hearns from Great Lakes Carpet & Tile, Deb DeGraaf from DeGraaf Interiors, Jason McSwain from McSwain Carpet & Floors and Raffi Sarmazian from Sarmazian Bros. — shared some of the membership’s focus for the future.

Elementary Education
DeGraaf said that unintentionally, much of the meeting was around training and the best practices that came out of that.

Added Mondragon, “The theme of the meeting was education for the RSA, the installer and what we need to do to continue that and the resources we have.”

The subject is so important that the NFA has formed an education committee, reported DeGraaf, adding that Scott Humphrey, CEO of the World Floor Covering Association, presented to the group about all that the association has to offer, including more than 100 education modules.

“The committee is looking into avenues to train more effectively and efficiently for the group,” she said. “We are a voice in the industry and because of the amount of store fronts we have and depth of owners around the country, we felt it was important to collectively be part of the WFCA. Every member of NFA will now be a member of WFCA and that is one avenue where we will seek out training, whether it’s how to talk to Mrs. Smith when she walks in the door or to find people who even want to be installers. It’s a great trade and you can make great money if you treat it as a business.”

Added McSwain, “Our focus wasn’t what a vendor can do for us — vendor programs are great. Our small group taps into it limitedly. Why is that and how can we use it differently?”

Flick noted that all the programs have been vetted. “They all have score cards and you can tell if they’ve taken it or if they haven’t and they’re very specific questions about your organization so you know if they are just pencil-whipping it.”

But even with education tools on hand, implementing training programs can also be a challenge for any retail big or small as they run the day to day business.

“You’re busy and the business is kind of running you versus building and training your people,” offered DeGraaf. “There are many store owners that wrestle with that all the time. That’s why it’s hard to implement the training systems and why we are trying to do a little bit of the background work. As an education committee, we’re going to try to hone that in a bit because it is out there.”

Digital Dynamics
The digital space can be complex and DeGraaf said “evolving,” adding, “When you think you’ve figured out Google and what they look at in a review they’ve changed their way of looking at it. It always has to be a look in progress.”

Hearns added that the challenge too is finding what really works. “You can’t really measure digital marketing as much. It’s difficult to know what is working and what is not and it is frustrating.”

Mondragon said one message at the day’s meeting rang loud and clear. “For some it isn’t tangible — they didn’t know how it was converting. They knew they were getting conversions; they knew they were getting clicks; but how that really transferred into sales was where you lose that. You don’t really know if that digital marketing actually generated the sale.”

Added DeGraff, “Someone listed eight different things they are doing but didn’t know which was working so they have to do them all.”

Managing Expectations
An area of concern shared by members is that as innovation continues in floor covering, managing the consumer’s expectations is increasingly difficult.

In fact, Sarmazian said that the toughest challenge as a specialty retailer today is “the misinformation that is given out in the industry,” he said. “You go from one store to the next and are given a different story so that creates confusion for the customer. It’s very tough to combat that, especially expectations when it comes to performance.”

Sarmazian reported that some of the newer vinyl products are oversold in terms of the expectations the customer receives. “Sometimes they’re paying the same price as hardwood and expect it to be indestructible. And if you aren’t careful, it can still scratch; it can expand. It’s not like its being played out to be and we are starting to see some of it come back to us because if all the stores are trying to oversell product as the best, newest thing out there at the expense of the other categories, I think it’s path of least resistance for RSAs to go to LVT.”

And, said Flick, it all comes back to the need for more education.

“Consumers,” added Mondragon, “are arming themselves with education before coming into the store. They’ve already been told the story, whether true or not. The challenge is to keep the RSA informed on what the consumer is hearing and learning out there so they can at least address that. But RSAs are not spending that time on the internet like the consumer is. They need to educate themselves on what the consumer is learning.”

Sarmazian added that he is concerned about the expectation when it comes to the even newer waterproof hardwoods. “It seems like it’s the next wave of the new latest and greatest and what are the expectations the suppliers and mills providing; there is always the fine print. It’s not always what it was cut out to be.”

Noted Newton, “There is no real waterproof flooring. If there is a flood, you’re going to replace that floor no matter what it is.”

Benchmark for success
Overall, 2019 revenue for members varied, reported the board, but mainly minor ups or downs. But the real takeaway for NFA members is the sharing of best practices. “I take away ideas and things to do differently in my business,” offered McSwain. “And there is encouragement in that, ‘hey, I’m not the only guy that might be down’ or whatever the situation.”

And, make no mistake — this group works hard and plays hard. Check out FCW’s social platforms for some of the after-hours fun.

By Amy Rush-Imber