News

Spring is Green Sale 2010

dpearson — Thu, 29 Apr 2010 19:12:00 GMT

his year, the promotion exactly corresponds with the dates of the 2010 HGTV Green Home Giveaway, from April 16 to June 7. During this more focused time period, retailers will enjoy new and improved P-O-P kit offerings, sale and budget-oriented consumer messaging, enhanced retail sales associate incentives and other incentives such as cash back per roll on the sale of Anso branded carpet, noted Reggie Newton, Shaw’s vice president of marketing. Shaw will continue to offer the $200 off consumer coupon on shawfloors.com or AndersonFloors.com while highlighting the “Find a Retailer” feature of the Web site.

The mill will support the 2010 Spring is Green promotion with national print and television advertising as well as an aggressive online presence. “Going into our fifth season, the national promotions are working for Shaw retailers,” Newton explained. “Our consumer research proves that today’s consumer is more concerned about price, value and warranty than ever before—she’s simply looking to get the best product for the best price.

“Spring is Green 2010 is about giving her the incentive to purchase,” he added. “We’re meeting her on networks such as HGTV, driving her to shawfloors.com to download the coupon and delivering the ready-to-purchase consumer to Shaw retailers. It’s a model that’s working—and the positive retailer response is overwhelming.”

New for 2010, Shaw’s Tuftex and Anderson brands will be part of the company’s Spring is Green promotion with special incentives. The refreshed campaign will also feature a pad promotion. “Best of all,” noted Kathy Young, Shaw’s creative services director, “the improved P-O-P kit will transform retail environments this spring with the addition of bold outdoor elements and more dramatic indoor elements. The enhanced P-O-P kit will add energetic style and color to earn consumers’ attention in this challenging business climate.”

Additionally, Spring is Green 2010 and the 2010 HGTV Green Home Giveaway highlight Shaw’s family of eco-friendly product offerings. Those interested should visit shawfloors.com/recycle for more information.

For more on the mill’s Spring is Green 2010 registration, call 706.275.1792 or contact your local Shaw representative.

Don Finkell Discusses Shaw's Acquistion of Stuart Hardwood Flooring

dpearson — Fri, 23 Apr 2010 15:53:00 GMT

Don Finkell, CEO of Shaw's Hardwood Business, and Kemp Harr from FloorDaily.net discuss Shaw's recent acquisition of Stuart Hardwood Flooring in Stuart, Virginia at FloorDaily.net. This interview can be found at www.floordaily.net. Don Finkell explains how Stuart Hardwood unfinished solid hardwood floors products fits into Shaw's overall business.

Anderson Launches New Web Experience

dunderwood — Mon, 15 Feb 2010 21:24:17 GMT

Clinton, SC. – Anderson unveiled a new web site at Surfaces 2010 that is designed to offer a unique shopping experience for flooring shoppers. Introduced as part of an integrated marketing communication package, their goal was to create a site that would remain current and be highly functional and intuitive, while utilizing cutting-edge technology to create a positive and enjoyable shopping experience for their customers.

“We spent a good deal of time interviewing female consumers about what they did and didn’t like when surfing the web,” offered John Woolsey, Vice President, Marketing. “We took what we learned an applied it to our new site.”

Consumers complained that most sites remained the same week after week and month after month. Based on this Anderson added articles and stories that will change at least every 30 days. Consumers said that most sites were cumbersome to navigate, so Anderson made sure that no page was more than three “clicks” away.

Many features are automatically revealed when the cursor is placed over them and disappear, unless selected, when the cursor is removed. Lists are easily accessed using the scroll wheel on the mouse.

Anderson’s initial launch, which they call “Phase One”, incorporates existing room scenes into which users can insert any of Anderson’s myriad of flooring choices. Because over 50 planks are individually photographed for each flooring choice, the final result doesn’t look like a repeating laminate pattern, but more accurately reproduces a hardwood floor, as it would come from a carton.

Even more exciting explains Woolsey, is “Phase Two” which is expected to launch in late spring. “Instead of using pre-existing room scenes, the consumer can export a digitized picture of the room they are considering changing and, using a proprietary software, mask the floor and insert the Anderson floor of their choice.

One of the most popular additions to the new site, and one you will not have to wait for, is what Anderson calls their “Scrapbook” function. From anywhere on the Anderson site, a consumer can “drag and drop” a visual element directly from the page to a personal scrapbook they have created on the site. Once in their scrapbook, they can export it to a of the popular “Social Media” site like Facebook or My Space and share their choices, ideas and thoughts with friends and family. They can even send them to the retail location where they plan to buy the floor.

And finding the retailer has never been easier. Once registered on the site, a quick click on “where to purchase” from either the home page or scrapbook will take you directly to the retailers nearest your zip code. There, the customer can email the retailer directly, attaching their scrapbook and setting up an appointment. The retailer, knowing the customer’s interests and choices, can have samples ready and get right down to the final selection process.

To appreciate all the features and innovations on the new site Anderson has produced a short video tour that first time visitors experience when opening the home page.

The new Anderson web experience is just a click away… We invite you to take it for a test drive. Just enter www.andersonfloors.com on your web browser and see for yourself.

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Anderson Innovation Does It Again

dunderwood — Mon, 15 Feb 2010 21:22:10 GMT

Clinton, SC. – Anderson Hardwood has introduced a new, truly high-performance finish for their products called Luster Lock® Ultra. Anderson claims this new finish resists scuffing and abrasion up to six times (6X) better than competitive finishes.

To back up this claim visitors at the recent Surfaces 2010 trade show in Las Vegas were invited to scuff samples of hardwood flooring from China and the leading brand of hardwood flooring from America with a heavy duty, nationally recognized scouring pad. Then compare them to an Anderson Hardwood sample with the new Luster Lock® Ultra finish.

After rubbing the sample less than ten times with the scouring pad the difference in scuff resistance was already evident. Don Herndon, who owns Classic Wood Flooring in Melbourne, Florida stated, “This Luster Lock® Ultra finish by Anderson is absolutely amazing! After seeing the competitive products scuff, I really tried to mark the Anderson sample and couldn’t”

Based on the performance of the new finish, Anderson is doubling the finish warranty on their 3/8,” 5-ply products to 30-Years and doubling their finish warranty on the 1/2” products to 50 years. Solid smooth-face products also get the new Luster-Lock® Ultra 30-Year Finish Warranty and the solid textured products receive the Luster-Lock® Ultra 50-Year Finish Warranty.

About Anderson
Anderson Hardwood, headquartered in Clinton South Carolina, is an independent operating company owned by Shaw Industries, the world’s largest carpet manufacturer and a leading floor covering provider with more than $5 billion in annual sales and approximately 26,000 associates. Recognized leaders in environmental stewardship, both Anderson and Shaw have implemented hundreds of sustainability initiatives and cradle-to-cradle design solutions.

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Anderson Receives C2C Silver Certification

dunderwood — Mon, 15 Feb 2010 21:14:17 GMT

Clinton, SC. – Anderson Hardwood, has received the coveted Cradle to Cradle™ Silver Certification from McDonough Braungart Design Chemistry (MBDC). Developed by world-renowned architect William McDonough and innovative chemist Michael Braungar, Cradle to Cradle redefines the design of products, processes and systems to provide financial, environmental and social benefits.

MBDC’s Cradle to Cradle™ certification process looks at a number of factors that contribute to a product’s suitability, such as the use of environmentally safe and healthy materials, design for recycling, water and energy efficiency and social responsibility.

Anderson is one of the first flooring manufacturers to earn C2C certification on all their hardwood-flooring products.

In addition to MBDC C2C Certification, Anderson is the first Company to be Certified Sustainable under the Responsible Purchasing Program sponsored by the Nation Wood Flooring Association.

All Anderson Family of Brands products comply with the recently revised Lacey Act, the United States' national wildlife protection statute that has been amended to make it a criminal offense to import illegally logged timber products into the U.S. All products are also in compliance with the California Air Resources Board (CARB 2) requirements and are GREENGUARD® Air Quality Certified.

“We are proud to have achieved C2C Certification from MBDC,” says Don Finkell, President of Anderson Hardwood. “Anderson has a legacy of environmental innovations going back to engineered flooring invented by our founder Andy Anderson in 1946. This third-party C2C Certification is just another verification our commitment to leaving the planet better off than when we found it.”

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Anderson Introduces New Affordable Luxury Collections

dunderwood — Mon, 15 Feb 2010 20:56:36 GMT

Clinton, SC. – According to Don Finkell, Anderson President and Shaw Hardwood C.E.O., ”The playing field has changed and Anderson’s emphasis in 2010 is on value. Consumers still want the same things they have in the past but they expect to get a better deal.” He continues, “It is a buyers market. So Anderson is addressing it by giving consumers more for their money.

“We are introducing six new collections at Surfaces and two new color additions to existing collections. All will have our new finish Luster Lock® Ultra, which gives up to six times (6X) more scratch resistance than our previous product and up to ten times (10X) more than competitive imports. We are upping the warranty to 50 years on our premium residential products, and we are not charging any more for this. In fact many of the new introductions are priced below similar products in our existing lines.”

Under the Anderson brand banner for 2010 are new color introductions, Sand Dollar in Coastal Art and Black Walnut in Exotic Impressions Classic as well as Tropical Reflections; a seven color Collection joins Exotic Impressions Classic and Hand Scraped Collections featuring Anderson’s exclusive PermaColor™ through color process. PermaColor allows Anderson to create the splendor of exotic grains without stains, pigments, solvents or chemicals that can mask the natural beauty. In addition, Tropical Reflections introduces Anderson’s unique enCORE™ center that is twice as hard as traditional hardwood cores and made from postindustrial wood waste. Like all Anderson, Appalachian and Virginia Vintage products, Tropical Reflections has GREENGUARD®, Cradle to Cradle™ and NWFA PRR Sustainability Certification. Featuring longer plank lengths, a new Luster Lock® Ultra, higher gloss land scuff resistant finish and the lowest price of any of Anderson’s PermaColor products; Tropical Reflections is just one example of Anderson’s new “Affordable Luxury” positioning.

There are two new introductions in Anderson’s Appalachian brand, Natural Brilliance and Haversham.

Natural Brilliance is a collection of four highly polishedm and lightly brushed, hickory choices that would be impossible to offer without the protection of the new Luster Lock® Ultra scuff and abrasion resistant finish. This combining of a “piano finish with a 50-Year finish warranty is unheard of on a high gloss product.

Traditional in its design, yet contemporary in its feel, Natural Brilliance adds style to settings as diverse as a penthouse in New York or a farmhouse in Nebraska.

In Haversham, Anderson took the look of our Luxury, Vintage Old Paint collection, toned it down a little, and colored it to coordinate with the best selling carpet colors of Shaw, America’s largest flooring company. To that they added their new Luster Lock ® Ultra finish, gave it a 50-year finish warranty and priced it substantially below Vintage Old Paint as well as below their best selling Pickle Barrel in the Anderson Coastal Art Collection.

Virginia Vintage has, from its inception, been known for its unique, groundbreaking design and innovative luxurious looks. The new introductions in 2010 continue this legacy.

Crossfire, made of rich Northern maple hardwood, employs a hand-sculpted texture applied, in a non-traditional fashion, across the grain. Once achieved, the look is softened by a multi-step process that produces subtle chatter and fire in the grain of the species. Introduced in four colors, Crossfire achieves a whole new look in a handcrafted, high-end floor. Like all of Anderson’s products, Crossfire has Anderson’s new Luster Lock® Ultra finish and carries a 50-Year finish warranty.

Anderson’s final introduction is Sanctuary. It is offered in traditional 5” width and a random pack of 2-1/4”, 3-1/4” and 4” boards, each in three colors: French Champagne, Flickering Flames and Chocolate Truffles. What makes this different from most other wide-width and random-width solids is that the planks are milled from Certified Sustainable North American Maple, one of America’s most beautiful and expensive hardwood species.

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