During Surfaces 2013, Mannington Mills’ President of Residential Business Kim Holm, Senior Vice President Residential Marketing Ed Duncan and Commercial LVT Vice President David Sheehan provided some insight on how business is trending now and in the future.

Looking Back

On the residential side of our business, the last half dozen years have been very challenging. The market has shrunk somewhere in the neighborhood of 35-40 percent overall, depending on the category, so there’s an abundance of capacity and all of us fighting for a larger share of a smaller pot. All of us have had to make cutbacks internally and externally, in the marketplace, to ensure profitability moving forward.

 

Looking Ahead

Retailers are telling us consumers are coming back into their stores. Our business in January was good, our fourth quarter was good, so we’re pretty bullish on 2013. We have aggressive budgets and plans, and so far, after the first month, we’re on target and feel maybe as good going into this year as we have the past several. We’re excited with what’s going on in the industry and the economy.

 

Product Spotlight

LVT is the hottest category in the industry right now, both commercially and residentially, so that’s where we’re putting a lot of resources and focus. We’re going after a market-leadership position; we’re in our ninth year in the LVT business and throughout the last six years, where business has been very tough on the residential side, LVT has been something of a shining star.

For us, a lot is centered around design and aesthetics, making the product look more real, since that’s the No. 1 criteria for the consumer. But it’s also ease of installation, floating systems, click systems that are packed with rock-solid technology that’s triggered a lot of our growth for the past two years. No one’s got a better performing product, no one has a better performing locking joint, and no one has a single display system that offers everything in one package, one place for the consumer to find everything they’re looking for.

 

What to Know

It’s really a collaborative effort in our company, a group effort where everyone’s involved. There’s a style, design and fashion component to our business, but our mission is to be the best people in the industry to do business with, that’s our corporate mission, and I think that’s our best attribute. Being known as people who stand up for their products, stand behind their products and support specialty retailers in the industry.