Stuart Hirschhorn, research director for Catalina Research, looks at sales to date in the industry and shares his outlook for the rest of 2019 sales. He notes that because of oversupply in 2018, he expects sales at the producer level this year to be no better than flat in dollar volume and off in square foot sales. At the retail level, he expects an increase of 2-3% as the result of working off inventory.

Chad Ogden, president and CEO of industry-specific software provider QFloors, talks about the various elements of QFloors software and how retailers usually adopt these elements into their operations, with the majority of retailers adopting the core features all at one time. Ogden also talks about the educational elements available to assist retailers’ proficiency.

Doug Chadderdon, president and CEO of Great Floors, a chain of 22 retail and commercial showrooms across the Pacific Northwest, talks about efforts to build traffic and how media expenditures have changed with the bulk of budgets going towards digital advertising.

Tom Jennings, vice president of development for World Floor Covering Association (WFCA), talks about the importance to retailers of having salespeople with a working knowledge of installation. Jennings also discusses preparing customers for the installation process while on the sales floor.

Lew Migliore, the industry’s trouble shooter, president of LGM & Associates Technical Flooring Services, discusses one of the most prevalent problems in the industry, concrete moisture and those with moisture vapor retarders. He reviews a situation he was called on where the architect made the decision to value-engineer the project and eliminate the moisture retarder.

George Celtrick, president of Whitewood Products, talks about the quiet comeback exotic wood species are making. Celtrick also discusses the future of the hardwood sector, saying there will be an improvement in the market’s higher end with the lower end of the market being plagued by budget issues and by the performance of LVT.

Michael Zmijewski, president of Mr. David’s, discusses the growth of this flooring contractor over the years and the factors that are taken into consideration by the company when expanding into new markets. Zmijewski also shares his views on the installer shortage