Chances are luxury vinyl products, in every configuration and construction you can think of, will drive as much as 40% or more of specialty retail sales for the next several years. I suspect it will be an even higher number, and I’m not the only one.
Talk to Piet Dossche, president, USFloors, and he’ll tell you it could be more than half of your future sales for the next several years. It’s no surprise then that we saw so many companies—even some that have had nothing to do with hard surfaces in the past—suddenly jockeying to get in on the action. And it’s not just manufacturers, all sorts of alternative retailers are now moving in even if they have no idea how to sell flooring: All they need to do is throw a palette of the stuff on the floor of their home center or hardware store or lumber yard—and guess what? It sells!