Karndean Designflooring is looking to target the trade by developing relationships with builders’ merchants such as Elliotts.
With increasing use of floor displays and engaging POS, the arrival of Luxury Vinyl Flooring (known as LVT) can help drive sales according to Matthew Brown, National Trade Sales Manager at Karndean Designflooring.
With real wood flooring and laminate historically dominating in the merchant sector, there has been a huge gap in the trade for quality LVT flooring with easy-fit solutions. It could even be said LVT has been underestimated due to lack of understanding of its benefits as an easy fit option for the trade.
As a popular floorcovering for residential and commercial installations alike, LVT offers the realistic look of real wood and stone without the practical drawbacks of splintering or cracking. Likewise, it is warm underfoot, easy to clean and will stand the test of time. LVT has traditionally been recognised as a stick down product that requires specialist fitting, but now there is a new type of LVT with fast installation times.
An established global brand with operations in the UK, USA and Australia, Karndean Designflooring has been supplying LVT stone and wood designs successfully across its independent retail and commercial network for the last 40 years. Inspired by nature, Karndean has developed a reputation for recreating the intricate knots, grains and texture of real wood and stone and bringing them to life as an LVT plank or tile.
New to the trade, it’s only now we’ve felt the time is right for us to introduce our brand and dedicated easy-fit collection of authentic wood and stone designs, enabling the merchant sector — for example, through a partnership with Fortis members — to stock Karndean LooseLay and Palio Clic for the first time.
The move comes predominately from industry demand, with the building trade actively looking to offer the authentic wood and stone designs their customers have come to expect from the Karndean Designflooring brand, but in quick and easy to install loose lay and click formats. Importantly, it means the building trade can offer the quality of a Karndean floor, and they don’t need a third party fitter.
Traditionally, the cost of flooring products has been the driving force behind sales, and the cheaper the cost the more popular floor material. With homeowners and end users more informed than ever before, they’re now demanding quality assurance alongside the best cost. Whereas before a builder might be swayed towards a particular DIY floorcovering due to cost alone, they’re now looking to offer the brand assurance.
In turn, the merchant sector is responding to the change by dedicating more space to display flooring options, investing in dedicated showrooms and creating engaging POS. Indeed, independent merchants, regional and national chains are all looking to offer more for the trade, as well as customers looking to undertake their own home improvements.
For example, Elliotts is a supplier of Karndean LooseLay and Palio Clic and has recently launched its first ‘Elliotts Living Spaces’ showroom in Ringwood. With Karndean LooseLay throughout the showroom, Elliotts Living Spaces is designed to guide customers through the design process from start to finish, making it a one-stop-shop for consumers looking to improve their homes as well as builders, developers, architects and interior designers.
In support of the above, suppliers should be looking to offer on-going marketing and customer support. As well as providing display floor, we can support merchants with dedicated Karndean LooseLay and Palio Clic stands, brochures and product shade cards. We’re also in the process of trialling a pallet wrap, specifically for larger merchants looking to display stock. Likewise, we’re working with our merchant network to offer product knowledge and training.
Main image shows: Sally Fisher, Joinery Product Manager of Elliotts and Matthew Brown, National Trade Sales Manager of Karndean Designflooring.
For more information visit the Karndean website
Easy-fit collection
Karndean Designflooring offers a wide range of colours, textures and finishes which allow customers to create looks that are unique to their home or business. The supplier’s Palio Clic and Karndean LooseLay can be installed over most existing hard floors as long as they’re dry, smooth, sound and dust-free.
Palio Clic introduces a ‘sophisticated range’ of eight wood (1220mm x 179mm) and four (600mm x 307mm) stone effect designs. With a patented click-locking system, the collection can be fitted without the need for glue and extensive sub-floor preparation in any room of the home.
Available in large scale (1050mm x 250mm) wood look planks and stone (610mm x 500mm) look tiles, the complete Karndean LooseLay collection features 19 wood designs and eight stone tiles. Karndean LooseLay’s unique friction grip backing and increased dimensional stability secures the floor firmly in place without the need for adhesives in many installations. It also features enhanced acoustic properties, reducing noise levels in rooms below — making it well-suited to playrooms, bedrooms and loft conversions.
