November 26/December 3, 2018: Volume 34, Issue 12
By Reginald Tucker
Ark Floors is doubling down its efforts to build capacity, expand its product offering and develop customized programs for its customers. The goal, according to Ed Goldberg, national sales and operations manager, is to fortify its position with distributor partners around the country while strengthening awareness of the Ark brand.
“Carl Lu, the owner of Ark Floors, told me he wanted to build a great brand,” Goldberg told FCNews at the recent NAFCD conference in Dallas. “‘I want to be like Armstrong,’ he said. Well, I took that to heart, and I carry that with me every single day.”
That explains why Goldberg made it a point to attend NAFCD and share that message with former, present and potential distributors alike. “My goal is to promote our brand and let people know we are still here,” he said. “We have a clear map for success and a direction moving forward.”
Part of that game plan, according to Goldberg, entails instilling a stronger sense of discipline across all facets of the business. “When I took over as general manager of Ark Floors about a year ago, we essentially only had one way to go—and that was back up,” Goldberg said. “Some of those changes I needed to implement were specifically in regard to product and color consistency, although the quality of the product was always good. When I surveyed our partners, there were very little issues with quality but more about color matching the samples. We are going to work more closely with our factories to maintain a higher level of color consistency to those samples.”
Some of those efforts are already paying dividends. “We achieved 15% growth this year; by Sept. 1 we had already matched our gross sales for 2017,” Goldberg said. “More importantly, we have greatly increased our gross profit margins.”
Goldberg attributes that success, in part, to the commitment of the company’s distribution network. “Much to my delight, distributors that I’m resurrecting relationships with as well as new industry partners I’m going after are excited to promote the Ark brand,” he explained. “I’m an old dog, so my go-to-market strategy is predominantly through traditional distribution, and that network is coming along. There are few areas of the country where we have not been able to get a good partner to commit yet, so we are going forward with a direct-to-retailer program. However, the price structure I have put in place will allow that to ultimately be a turnkey system to hand over to the right distribution partner.”
A few of the wholesale partners who are on board include Bay Area-based Medallion, Ark Floor’s longest and most loyal partner; Certified in Pittsburgh, which is moving forward with a new, revamped program; Finishes, which will handle Texas, Oklahoma, Kansas, Arkansas and Louisiana; and Marietta, Ga.-based A&M Supply, which has committed to resuming a business relationship with Ark Floors in the Southeast after a brief hiatus. “Every single day those guys are seeing opportunities with our brand,” Goldberg said.
A&M Supply, looks forward to having Ark Floors back in the fold. “We believe Ark will be a tremendous addition to our product offering,” said Dunn Rasbury, director of flooring. “Its exotic product offering is second to none. We’re also very excited about an updated color palette in oak Ark has introduced.”
Among Ark Floor’s most popular lines is a “genuine” mahogany that Goldberg described as having different characteristics than a traditional South American mahogany. (It doesn’t “amber” or go through photosynthesis, and it replenishes very quickly and takes color stains very well, he said.) The company also offers popular European white oak species in predominantly A and B grades with a “little bit of C grade mixed in. Our Asian birch also continues to sell very well,” he added.
A winning formula
At a time when many distributors and retailers are being inundated with products that are often “force fed” by some of their manufacturer partners, Ark Floors is taking a slightly different tack. In essence, the manufacturer’s wholesaler partners are encouraged to cherry-pick from its wide offering so they may only stock those products that sell well in their respective markets.
How it works: Ark Floors maintains 64 running-line SKUs (25 of which are ¾-inch solids, with the rest being engineered). From that batch, distributors are asked to select their “Top 20” best-selling products or potential movers, and then Ark Floors works to ensure a consistent supply of that inventory based on those specific SKUs. At the same time, distributors are not necessarily locked in; they do have some flexibility. “For example, Finishes, based in Texas, actually identified their Top 36,” Goldberg stated. “And that’s OK, too.”
Bottom line: Whatever distributors decide, Ark Floors will support them with display systems, samples and inventory. In fact, the company is working to develop a better balance of inventory on the East and West Coasts via its warehousing facilities in Baltimore, Md., and Los Angeles, respectively. Part of that lies in improving communications between the various warehouses and factories located in Brazil, Cambodia, Croatia, Ghana and Indonesia. “The factories are going to be responsible for letting us know when containers of specific SKUs are ready to ship, and where those products are going to be shipped,” Goldberg explained.
All that is music to distributors’ ears. “Ark Floors has created a great logistics model that will allow us to great provide service and value to our customers,” A&M’s Rasbury told FCNews.
At the end of the day, Ark Floors just wants to do the right thing for the customer. As Goldberg explained: “Having been in the industry for 30 years, I pride myself on longevity and maintaining relationships and also maintaining my integrity in an industry that can be full of empty promises.”