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A long hot summer for better quality sales
David Spragg • March 21, 2021
This will be a summer when some have more money to spend. The demographics of that consumer group with unspent savings and pent-up demand tends to be more middle-class, more middle age plus young professionals – i.e. just the sort of people who can be traded up to better, less price-sensitive flooring products.
This month, SHOPTALK looks at some of the quality and design trends coming through for the Summer season.
Move to more high-end products
“There is a quality feel to the immediate future,” says Steve Depport of Metro Group. “For example, retailers have already seen a trend towards more traditional styles of tighter, shorter pile twists and I think this is welcomed by many as a more reliable, robust product.” “There is a quality to these products that can command a better price.”
“This is not a return to hard twists, customers are still looking for some softness,” says Steve, “but there is less appetite to go soft all over the house.”
“This also carries through into the growth we have seen coming through in wool,” he says. “Although product development has been held back in recent months of course, I think manufacturers are investing in their wool ranges and freshening them up along with some more interesting colours. There seems to be more belief in wool at the moment.”
Richard Moore at ACG agrees: “PP sales will continue to be dominant in carpets of course but I see wool continuing to fight back along with high end sustainable eco ranges being developed, in the mid-long term.”
“There’s a move to more high-end products - velvets, velvet and twist, and tartans – which appear more and more, both in wilton PP and wool axminster and I see certain suppliers looking to develop more quality nylon carpet ranges.”
Design trends that have been coming through over the last year also include a return to colour as consumers locked into their homes look for more interest and personality in their décor with warm, cosy tones to the fore.
Cosy and colour coming through
“Cosy carpet seems to enjoying something of a renaissance following the unremitting rise of vinyl, reflecting the “nesting” trend of the long winter of this pandemic,” says Linda Thomas of SMG.
If flooring follows the paint market then you can see a little more colour coming in with certain shades of blue/green, blue aqua, olive, peach, blossom. Patterns, especially plaids (again) and small geometrics appear to be increasingly popular.
On the vinyl side, the choice of designs has continued to grow, even during the pandemic, with parquet and herringbone dominating the consumer interiors magazines and blogs with follow-through into retail sales.
“LVT sales will continue to grow and see retailers investing significant amounts of money in new marketing and displays,” says Richard.
David Spragg of The Stocklists commented: “After thousands of square metres of light and medium oak planks have been laid, bland is banned in many fashionable households, hence the current popularity of parquet designs – with some great block patterning as well as herringbone.”
“An interest in using more tile designs – and not just in kitchens and bathrooms – is coming through, as well as the trend for Victoriana in entrances and hallways. There are some great designers working in the leading LVT manufacturers who have risen to the occasion and will continue to keep us interested!”
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