Despite industry headwinds in 2024, CCA Global's Retail Group is positioning itself for strong growth in 2025, backed by early positive indicators and a comprehensive strategy built on four interconnected pillars. 

While the cooperative experienced a slight decline in sales last year, it significantly outperformed home improvement big box competitors, leadership reported. More importantly, the final quarter of 2024 marked a turning point, with positive comp sales throughout the period and strong momentum continuing into the new year.

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"For the first time in over 26 months, our investment during the downtimes are paying dividends," said Keith Spano, president of Carpet One Floor & Home.

Steve Sieracki, president of Flooring America, Flooring Canada, The Floor Trader, and International Design Guild (IDG), traveled coast to coast over the last year to visit members and see Retail 2.0, the cooperative innovative selling system implemented in store. 

"Some would challenge this may have been the worst time to launch a total showroom remodel and new selling system. I would contend it was the best time. We challenged you to invest, to catch the upside—and invest you did," Sieracki said. 

Members agree. 

“People are a little more comfortable, there’s an election behind us, people still have money—they were just holding onto it,” said Matt Andrews, vice president and project manager at Allwein Carpet One in Annville Township, Pennsylvania. “We’re seeing people a little more willing to invest in either their Main Street commercial business or their home.” 

The Foundation: A Revolutionary Retail Experience

At the heart of CCA's transformation is Retail 2.0, the industry's largest merchandising launch, now implemented across 900 locations. This ambitious program has eliminated showroom clutter and duplication while delivering improved margins and close rates.

"We’ve gone through the apprehensive state of the first year with Retail 2.0, and personally, it’s been awesome,” said Matt Shelton, VP of sales at L&M Carpet One Floor & Home in Mechanicsville, Virginia. “We’ve experienced a shorter lifecycle from start to finish in terms of sales, and the sales staff is very excited with the looks. It’s a simpler experience that allows you to put the focus on the customer.” 

Next, the cooperative is exploring an innovative omnichannel strategy for the ceramic tile category, which accounts for $6.2 billion and represents about one-quarter of the entire flooring market and 11-12% of CCA Global's overall purchases. 

"How do we allow members to scale the tile offering while giving consumers a seamless and engaging experience?" said Theresa Fisher, vice president of store design and visual merchandising. 

Digital Innovation Powers Growth

Building on this foundation, CCA has launched its new Advanced Marketing Programs (AMP), a comprehensive technology stack designed to drive local traffic and amplify member success stories. The new AMP Connect platform offers customer relationship management and automated marketing capabilities for all members, regardless of their point-of-sale system. 

"We've successfully migrated a hundred percent of the membership to G2, and they can take advantage of the largest flooring database in the industry," said Dale Jordan, product strategist at CCA Global. 

Over the past year, the organization has seen results across the board with members who invested in the premium marketing program at CCA. Those retailers are seeing more organic form leads, more search results, and more map views. The marketing team also reported that it is prioritizing localized content across member websites, Google Business Profiles, and social media platforms. 

"Why are we doing this? To boost your brand awareness, improve your visibility online, and drive organic traffic to your website," said Terri Daniels, VP public relations and communications. 

Diversification: Creating Market Leaders

The third pillar of CCA's strategy focuses on diversification, encouraging members to expand their market presence through multiple brands, such as adding a Floor Trader or Kiba kitchen and bath studio, and product categories. 

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"We're not out in the marketplace soliciting Floor Trader accounts," explained Keith Spano, president of Carpet One Floor & Home. "We're going to the membership Carpet One, Flooring America, and saying, add a Floor Trader in the marketplace and create a spoke and hub model where you have one place to house all your inventory."

CCA announced significant growth in its National Installation Solutions (NISI) program, which now serves 36 members across the country with an additional 60 members in the setup pipeline. The program, which has facilitated over 10,000 installations in the past three years, represents CCA's answer to one of flooring retail's biggest challenges: installation management. As the industry's only cooperative providing an exclusive installation service for members, NISI shifts the burden of scheduling, estimating, and installing from store owners to a dedicated team, freeing members to focus on strategic growth and market development.

Data: The Strategic Advantage

CCA's commitment to data-driven decision-making centered around the G2 technology platform is completing the structure.

"As John Gilbert often reminded us, there's a potential 200 basis point upside in profit tied to product file management," Jordan noted.

This isn't just hyperbole—the platform now manages an unprecedented 2 million unique SKUs and billions of pricing records, making it the largest and most comprehensive product catalog in the flooring industry.

The scale of this digital transformation has been significant. Since its rollout, G2 has achieved several key milestones:100% member migration to the platform, 300% increase in vendor product line coverage, full integration with all customer-facing technology, and implementation of automated pricing systems.

A key enhancement announced at the convention is a new feature that gives members complete control over their sale pricing, enabling stores to tailor their sales strategies to local market needs. This flexibility and the platform's comprehensive data allow members to make more informed pricing and inventory decisions. Looking to the future, CCA is doubling down on its technology investment by appointing Brendan Sullivan as Chief Technology Officer. 

The data strategy extends beyond just product and pricing information. G2's integration with Retail 2.0 and the new AMP marketing programs creates a comprehensive ecosystem that supports every aspect of members' operations. This integration enables better inventory management, more targeted marketing, and improved customer service - all driven by real-time data and analytics.

Looking Ahead

With January 2025 showing strong performance and member enthusiasm high at the recent convention, CCA appears well-positioned for growth.

"I've talked to as many vendors as I can talk to right now, and they're like, 'Wow, what'd you give these people? They're fired up, they're ready to go,'" Spano said.

The cooperative's strategy of encouraging multiple brand ownership within markets, combined with its focus on technology and data, creates a robust framework for member success.

The comprehensive approach, built on the four pillars of Retail 2.0, digital marketing, diversification, and data, provides members with multiple paths to growth while maintaining the cooperative's traditional strengths in member support and market leadership.