You don’t scare me

Big Box and the small flooring retailer.

By Ralph Godfrey

The big box Store v the smaller individual retailer issue probably won’t change much, due to the economics of scale. 

But the little guy has a distinct advantage over the BB competitor. The little guy store, if properly managed is more flexible, will probably provide more and better product selection and information, and because of his size the customer is much more important to the small store than the customer is to the BB operation. 

If I were opening a new store, I would pick a location as close to the BB store as I could find. Hopefully right across the street from the BB store so I can take advantage of the traffic flow a big box store will generate. Learn to benefit from the BB advertising program.

If the little guy is good at what he does, the difference in the quality of customer service and product knowledge offered to the customer by the little guy will be  substantially superior. The little Guy will get a substantial amount of business just because he is able to service the consumer in a better fashion.  You have to turn lemons into lemonade. Sometimes obstacles can be  misleading. When looked at from a different perspective, the obstacle of the BB store is just a very well disguised opportunity.

I recently purchased new carpet for a bedroom and closet in my house.  The room measured  11.0” x15’ 6”. The room was a 12.0” x 16.0” flop,  (21.33 sq. yds) that had a 1.0 x 9.0” fall off and the closet required a 1.0” x 4.0” fil in the back of the closet. The nap all ran the same direction in the fill and main portion of the carpet.

I decided I would try (Big Box ) to see how they operated. I found the carpet and cushion I liked. The 58-year-old salesman worked only in the flooring Department . He had been in the flooring industry for 22 years. We talked and he scheduled a measurement for 4 days later. The salesman said I would really like the measuring guy named Steve because he had been in the industry as an installer for 15 years.

Steve showed up with his trusty lap top and Lazer measuring device. Spent 15 minutes measuring the room. He consulted his laptop and told me the installation would require 24 sq. yds. I ask him how he computed 24 yards for a 12" x 16 ‘ foot flop that equated to a  21.33 sq.yd. room. Steve said the software program (Big Box) uses automatically computes an additional overage of material so that HD installers would never be short on a job. 

I told him this material fully installed was $45.00 per square yard.  The 21.33 yds I had computed equated to a cost of $959.85. The “overage’ he wanted to charge me for equated to $1,080.00. That’s a difference of $120.15 for 2.67 yds. of carpet and cushion that would not be utilized and 2.67 sq. yds. of carpet that I had no use for. 

He insisted that there was nothing he could do, that the overage was built in to every measure and all he could do was present me with a proposal for the 24-yard installation. He printed the proposal and went on his way. 

I drove  couple miles to a small dealer with a good reputation that had been in business for 20 years. I showed him my diagram and told him what I was looking for. He showed me several options to be installed over an 8.0 lb. rebond cushion. He had two of the items in stock. I selected one of the in-stock items. The cost was $810.65 for a comparable nylon cut pile carpet and  8,0 lb. cushion. He said he could install the carpet on Thursday, and he also said, “I don’t want to offend you , but I must come by your house on Monday and verify your measurement to make certain it is accurate”.  I told him I was not offended and that I would have been upset if he had not wanted to verify my measurement.

The job was installed on Thursday by a very competent and friendly installer named Jack, and everyone was happy.  

That’s why the small store guy should not be intimidated by the BB Store. The small guy will always the advantage of more personal, better customer service and professionalism than the BB store.

Next article, by John Paul Viveiros, whose family has a small family business for over 50 years in Ma and had an installation service company for several Big Box stores in his region. He has a unique perspective from his family store to working with BB.