Don't Get Mad Get Customers

There have been some recent statistics claiming that 27% of the population can not afford big ticket purchases at this time. So therefore 73% can afford to buy – if they want it bad enough. The harsh reality is that many of those 7 out of every 10 consumers would rather hand over their hard earned cash (because I suspect that most of those on benefits are among the 27%) for something more desirable than a new carpet.

Unfortunately, the typical carpet advert makes the double glazing and estate agency business look like consummate professionals by comparison. FREE fitting, FREE underlay FREE grippers, FREE doorbars, FREE measuring then massive discounts upon further massive discounts are slashed, carved, hacked, gashed, chopped, ripped and otherwise lacerated from what’s left, to give “Mad” and “Crazy” prices.  I can’t help feeling that the prospect of even considering buying such obviously worthless rubbish from a self-proclaimed lunatic is beyond the pale for many respectable people.

Unless of course they absolutely need one. So that’s what we are left with, those people who can not put off any longer their need to cover up the noisy draughty bare boards, or replace the ugly carpet that the incontinent dog has destroyed. With great dismay they are forced to contemplate the prospect of visiting a cold, poorly lit, crammed warehouse or backstreet shop to look at products, which main selling point seems to be that it’s “cheap”. 

It doesn’t have to be that way.  The best definition of selling is “Creating a desire to own something”. How many carpet adverts, flyers or shop fronts do you see that create a desire?  The only desire many create is the desire to be elsewhere – like lying on a beach playing with their new iPad, or sitting in front of their new 99” plasma tv with a few cans of grog.

Rapidly rising wool prices have not made it any easier. However, there is an argument that wool is a premium product and should be reassuringly expensive. Smartstrand has shown that premium fibres can successfully command higher selling prices – and let’s not forget that higher prices create more turnover and profit. We can be more ambitious than to chase prices tied at the same levels as 20 – 30 years ago.

Theodore Levitt, an economist and lecturer at Harvard Business School once said  – “People don’t buy quarter-inch drills, they buy quarter-inch holes”. Rather than selling carpets perhaps we should think about selling beautiful homes.

Depressing Taxi Driver

Here’s a story which really made me think. I was in a taxi taking me from the station to a meeting when the cabbie asked “What line of business are you in then?”. When I told him the carpet business he said “Oh dear - I bet that’s really tough isn’t it?”. I asked him why he thought the carpet business might be especially tough and he said “because people don’t buy carpets anymore - I’ve got no carpets at home. Oh... except on the stairs”. I immediately had visions of his 2.50 x 4m S+L that takes an estimator 2 hours in travelling and planning, and a fitter half a day to cut up and fit. He went on... “I have wood in the hall and lounge, laminate in the bedrooms, and ceramics in the kitchen and bathrooms”. I hadn’t previously considered how typical this guy might be.

Rather surprisingly, on asking a group of carpet retailers how many ONLY sold carpets, the answer was more than half, which could explain why business is so tough. I reckon that the average consumer carpets only 60% of their home compared to 15 years ago when kitchens and bathrooms were routinely carpeted. Look around the homes of your friends and family members if you need convincing. So any houseful means that they will need other flooring styles - if you make them go elsewhere for anything other then carpets, then you could be pushing your customers into the arms of your competitors who may well sell carpets too...

In the US most carpets are sold by FLOORING retailers - if it goes on the floor they sell it. Carpets usually account for around 40% of sales, among a product mix of rugs, real wood, laminates and ceramics.

We all know the impact made by wood floors and laminates, and whilst there are claims that their growth has been arrested, they remain at a high level. It is rare to find a house with wood or laminate these days especially among young to middle aged consumers.

Ceramics frighten many retailers because they don’t have any installation expertise. The fact is that most ceramic retailers simply hand out 3 cards of recommended fitters and don’t get involved in fitting themselves. How easy is that? Many retailers don’t want to sell wood for the same reasons, but logic dictates that if it was easy then everyone would be doing it (like carpets). The more technically difficult the task, the fewer competitors you’ll have and the greater the margins available.

The conclusion is that if carpet sales are struggling, then do you need to offer more products that consumers want to buy? Can you afford to ignore huge swathes of the flooring business? Supermarkets spend much time and thought planning where to site packets of sweets and chewing gum, because they know how important it is to squeeze every last penny out of their customers, whilst offering great products and services that consumers want or need. Here’s an example – your customers want to buy flooring maintenance products - stain remover, spot cleaner, vinyl, wood and laminate cleaners. There is good profit to be made it selling these to them. If you offer them, customers will come into your store to buy them thus providing extra profits, and may be inspired to redecorate with one of your ranges, or buy other things while they are there on impulse, like rugs.

Now – where’s that taxi driver?