Key brands from CCA Global Partners, the nation’s largest floor covering cooperative, including Flooring America, Flooring Canada, and The Floor Trader, traveled to Dallas to kick-off the new year at conneXtion, a branded annual meeting that connects more than 500 independent floor covering retailers. The two-day conference held at the Gaylord Texan Resort, brings together the best flooring retailers in North America and features a robust line-up of presenters to provide actionable insights that retailers can implement into their businesses and drive growth in 2018.

Project selling remains an important objective for the organization. President of Flooring America, Flooring Canada and Floor Trader, Keith Spano comments, "Product diversification and selling the project not the product to our customers allows us to be a one-stop design center and ultimately capture a larger share from each consumer.” Spano added, “It’s imperative to remain relevant and help our members be focused on me-tail vs. retail, offering customers more personalization in the buying process. We know consumers today expect the process of researching, reading reviews, receiving advice, and purchasing products via the many touch points they use such as websites, mobile, social media and in-stores, to be integrated.”

From a product perspective, the group launched its new exclusive Galvanite LVT. With the continued consumer demand in the category, Galvanite LVT helps our members be differentiated and innovators in the independent flooring retail space.

Striving to be at the forefront of the flooring industry with technology, the cooperative leverages the latest technology to engage with the consumer whether it’s in-store or online. Frank Chiera, Senior Vice President, Marketing & Advertising at Flooring America/Flooring Canada and The Floor Trader, explains, “Technology and consumers evolve and we must evolve as retailers to stay ahead of the pack. As part of our steadfast commitment to execute smart marketing programs that will work hard for our membership, we’re launching two important initiatives at this conneXtion for Flooring America and Flooring Canada--a new way to connect with consumers searching for floors called My Design Finder, and a new advertising agency poised to elevate our group to new levels.”

Launching in 2018 My Design Finder is a way for customers to search for flooring. According to Chiera, “My Design Finder is a visual way that allows consumers to select their design style based on a project need, with beautiful Pinterest like room scene photography, and then identifies their persona based on that preference. We’re essentially flipping the way customers search for flooring on its head.”

From the conneXtion main general session, Chiera introduced Flooring America and Flooring Canada’s new Boston-based advertising agency, Comm Creative as the agency of record for the group. “Comm Creative is an agency that clearly thinks with their heart, and after an exhaustive RFP process, we realized they understood not only how to tap into the mind of our core customer but also that they would be an incredible strategic partner for us.” Comm Creative will launch all new marketing for the group beginning in April of 2018, capitalizing on the equity built in the groups unique brand positioning of “where friends send friends™.”

Spano concludes, “conneXtion provides a great platform for our members to network and collaborate with each other, charging up their batteries and helping us all put the fun back in flooring. Our greatest resource remains the expertise of our membership comprised of successful entrepreneurs and business owners who understand how to have the greatest impact in the retail flooring space. We will continue to push boundaries to help our retailers be successful.”

For more information on Flooring America/Flooring Canada, visit www.flooringamerica.com or http://www.flooringcanada.ca. Become a fan on Facebook and follow us @FlooringAmerica or @FlooringCanada.

About Flooring America and Flooring Canada
Flooring America and Flooring Canada are divisions of CCA Global Partners the nation’s largest floor covering cooperative. With more than 500 independent, locally owned flooring retailers, Flooring America’s member stores work hard every day to become the most recommended flooring stores in North America. Flooring America’s independent retailers strive to make customers deliriously happy by guiding, advising and finding the right floor to make homes beautiful. We are the flooring store where friends send friends for their new floors.