Luxury vinyl tiles the new volume product
YOU only need to flick through the pages of CFJ to get an idea of just how widely Luxury Vinyl Tiles (LVTs) are being installed around the UK for all sorts of applications. There are more brands than ever competing
for a decent slice of this ever growing market, and it doesn’t surprise me just how popular this vinyl product has become.
At Polyflor, we first got involved seriously in the LVT market just over a decade ago and it’s one of the best decisions we could have made. It was at a time when they were a little misunderstood and seen as a niche product and one which many specifiers and contractors were unsure of at the time.
There can be no doubt today that LVTs have become a commodity and offer some outstanding USPs. Yes you still have your top end products but there are so many ranges and finishes that are now‘everyday goods’ in flooring terms.
Contractors, architects and designers have bought into the fact that LVTs - high quality ones at least - are not just cheap wood and stone replicas.They offer the inherent maintenance and durability benefits expected
of traditional commercial vinyl flooring along with an aesthetic appeal and a range of design options that not many other floorcoverings can match.
I haven’t even mentioned the price benefits yet! I will come to that later.
Retail spaces and offices have proven to be two of the most common use areas, but we have noticed they are featuring in an increasing number of schools, universities, hospitals and social housing projects.
These are areas where traditional sheet vinyl or historically linoleum have been widely used in the past, but thanks to the look, competitive pricing, performance and availability of LVTs, they are securing more and more market share every year.
But personally I think the real proof of LVTs’ coming of age, so to speak, is the fact that more and more of us consider them as a desirable option for our own homes. At Polyflor we have seen many examples lately of our collections being installed in some extremely luxurious homes. These homeowners aren’t short of a pound or two and trying to source cheaper finishes.They just understand and appreciate the benefits.
The fact that modern LVTs don’t look out of place in a £50,000 kitchen is surely testament to the aesthetic quality offered by the leading brands, which, combined with the durability and ease of maintenance benefits they offer, make for a very attractive option. And now I would like to raise the issue of price. LVT ranges, like most other goods, vary in cost and fall into certain pricing bands, but they are certainly not exclusive.
Some LVTs are often marketed as aspirational, top-end products, but they are just as likely to be found
in low-cost social housing schemes as they are in plush mansions.
Of course with the state of the housing market, this has become a very attractive option for housebuilders who are trying to provide that WOW factor while keeping build costs down.
As a brand, marketing your LVT range effectively is extremely important if you want to move up to the top of the pile and various companies are throwing considerable weight behind their marketing campaigns. With enough budget behind you, a good LVT collection is a marketer’s dream because they offer such great value for money compared to the high end natural wood and stone products and can look just as good, if not
better, in any marketing collateral. Of course it is one thing getting your marketing right and having everyone under the sun queuing to get hold of your product, but you must be able to provide decent levels of stock.
A flooring contractor wouldn’t think twice about switching to another product if it was hard to source stock and the waiting times were too long.
So while investment in the initial product development andmarketing of LVTs is crucial, it is just as important to be able to invest in holding some serious volumes of stock in order to keep servicing customers effectively.
Design, quality, performance, price, availability - it all sounds very familiar but these are the drivers of LVTs as a true volume product.
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