With customers appreciating a “practical and convenient alternative to laminate, natural wood or stone flooring”, merchant sales of Palio Trade by Karndean are said to be experiencing continued growth year on year. PBM talks to the company to find out more.
Introduced by one of the UK’s leading manufacturers of luxury vinyl flooring (LVT), Palio Trade by Karndean is described as an “exclusive collection of easy to fit luxury vinyl flooring” that has been sepcifically designed for the trade to fit.
Its popularity is such that the company reports that, typically, merchant stockists are reporting 50% sales growth in the luxury vinyl flooring category over the last year, with LVT accounting for 70% of their total sales growth. As its product portfolio continues to evolve to meet demand from developers and home decorators alike, Karndean says that sales are expected to increase further.
Matthew Brown, the company’s Head of Trade, said: “Although it has undoubtedly been a challenging time for builders’ merchants and the trade, it’s promising to see luxury vinyl flooring as a category that’s growing and continuing to innovate. We are introducing new superior formats designed to offer ease of installation and convenience to fit over existing subfloors without the need for extensive preparation and screeding.
“As a result, we are seeing sales of Palio Trade by Karndean go from strength to strength since we launched to the independent merchant market in 2017.”
He added: “Our UK based stock holdings provide much needed supply chain resilience so we can confidently support our merchant network and offer clear reassurance that orders will be delivered without delay. Palio Trade by Karndean is a product increasingly trusted by home designers and the trade and we are pleased to be meeting the market’s demands for quality, design and innovation, opening up new opportunities for our merchant partners to grow sales.”
The collection itself offers “highly realistic” wood and stone designs that “look just like the natural materials they’re inspired by, but without any of the practical downsides”. Furthermore, the range is claimed to provide skilled tradespeople with an easy-fit product that “guarantees a perfect finish every time” with three format options: rigid core, loose lay and gluedown.
Waterproof, hygienic, slip resistant and very comfortable underfoot, the flooring is hard wearing enough to stand up to the demands of a busy home, even in more challenging rooms such as bathrooms and kitchens.
The rigid core format of Palio Rigid and Palio Core offers a familiar click-locking mechanism for quick and easy installation and comes with the convenience of being suitable for fitting over uneven existing subfloors. Recommended for new floors that are still drying out, Karndean says its Palio’s rigid core flooring can even help the trade manage project timelines and minimise disruption for their clients.
Palio LooseLay, meanwhile, features an innovative friction grip backing that is designed to secure the product in place using a combination of weight and friction, making this a suitable option if the existing floor needs to be protected or for temporary installations.
These formats also come with the additional benefit of a pre-attached acoustic layer which reduce noise transfer to the floor below by up to 19dB, making these recommended choices for upstairs rooms or multi-storey apartments and student accommodation.
For bespoke floor designs, and suitable for installers with more specialist fitting skills, Palio Gluedown offers a range of “beautiful designs” that can be laid in a wide range of laying patterns and personalised designs.
In addition, all Palio flooring products are compatible with wet or dry underfloor heating, are easy to keep hygienically clean and come with the reassurance of a 20-year residential guarantee.
Introducing multiformat
Said to offer the widest choice of designs and formats, the Palio Trade by Karndean multiformat collection presents ten beautiful wood designs, all available in Palio Rigid, Palio LooseLay and Palio Gluedown to suit any situation. This means that no matter what the subfloor conditions, there’s an appropriate format in the colourway the client prefers.
So, whether the goal is to create a bespoke pattern with Palio Gluedown, limit noise transfer between floors with Palio Rigid, or retain access to underfloor services with Palio LooseLay, the same colourway can be carried throughout multiple spaces for a stylish finish and sense of flow and cohesion.
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