MANUFACTURER FEEDBACK
“We found the market report very useful and it will help in developing our sales and marketing plans for the UK. The
quotes from the flooring contractors were particularly helpful in understanding
their purchasing behaviour.” Marketing Manager, Tarkett
“Leading Edge helped us to identify
the market opportunity and assess the rewards and risks of setting up online. We were very happy with their research and it contributed towards our decision to launch the online flooring offer. We
are now successfully trading products for the residential market from our company website.” Commercial Manager, Gerflor
“Leading Edge carried out a customer survey on our behalf. This was across a number of product and customer
groups which added to the complexity of the process. The team at Leading Edge were supportive and helpful throughout the process and the final report has
contributed to our business planning.” Sales and Marketing Director, Gradus
“We asked Leading Edge to help us to develop our company strategy. The work
was excellent and we acted upon most of the recommendations.” Director, Ardex
“We worked with Leading Edge to help us find a new sales partner in the UK.
Throughout the project they took a very professional approach and the reports providing information on potential partners were first class. I would
certainly be happy to use them again.” Export Sales Manager, Upofloor.
Drawing from the research findings, Leading Edge found that the vinyl safety flooring brand used most by flooring contractors over the last year was Polyflor.
In the survey of 100 vinyl flooring contractors working in the UK, 86% had used Polyflor safety flooring within the previous 12 months. Polyflor only narrowly beat Altro, but both soared way ahead of other major safety flooring brands like Tarkett, Forbo, Gerflor and ITEC.
Mel Budd, Director of Leading Edge, said: “The survey also showed the significant growth of safety flooring.
twitter.com/TContractFloors
POLYFLOR IS THE MOST USED SAFETY FLOORING IN THE COMMERCIAL SECTOR
It now captures a much higher percentage of the overall vinyl market than previously.”
The main brands in the market have quite different percentages of their business selling via distribution. Forbo and Gerflor had high percentages going direct while a higher proportion of sales were through distribution for Tarkett, Polyflor and Altro. Overall, 27% of contractors purchase all their commercial vinyl flooring direct from a manufacturer, while a slightly lower percentage buy from a mix of direct and distribution.
Respondents were also asked to rate the vinyl flooring manufacturers on a number of key attributes such as price, design and range, and quality. When asked who they thought was the manufacturer with the best product quality, the highest rated brand was Altro with more than double the number of responses of any other manufacturer.
The full report contains details on other areas such as manufacturer market share by type of floor and by sector, reasons for selecting each brand and what installers would like to improve about their supplier.
Mel Budd added: “One of the main issues contractors had with manufacturers was the reliability of product supply. This kept coming up as a major issue.”
The survey covered the following commercial vinyl flooring categories: safety flooring, non-directional through chip, marbleised/directional and other heterogeneous sheet. Most of the analysis is split by smooth and safety flooring.
www.lead-edge.co.uk FEATURE | 13
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