The flying carpet brothers

By ELLEN READ

A carpet business set up by two brothers eight years ago is aiming to take No. 1 spot in the New Zealand residential flooring market.

Auckland-based flooring retailer Carpet One has joined Fly Buys in a move to reach its goal.

It says it holds the No. 2 position based on turnover.

Carpet One, part of a co-operative covering the United States, Australia and Canada, was introduced in New Zealand by Auckland-based entrepreneur Patrick Harrison, now managing director.

He added an innovative twist to the concept which has been key to Carpet One's success: all its outlets are mobile, not store-based.

Because the company has no shops, it can keep overheads to a minimum.

This, and the extensive buying power of Carept One worldwide, enables Carpet One to compete on price as well as service.

From two outlets in 1997, Harrison and brother Terry have expanded Carpet One to 25 mobile licensees, making it the fastest-growing flooring retailer in New Zealand both in coverage ( 95 per cent of the market) and turnover (up 200 per cent over the past four years).

The family-owned business wants to have 40 licensees by the end of the year.

Going nationwide was the key to joining Fly Buys - the promotional scheme accepts only retailers with national coverage.

Carpet One wants to emulate other businesses that have used Fly Buys to help increase market share. According to Fly Buys, these include Mitsubishi Motors, which recently regained No. 4 four position after 18 months in the programme, and founding participant Shell, which has risen from No. 3 in 1996 to a point where it is challenging BP for the top spot.

Harrison believes that being in the scheme will give Carpet One the edge it needs to get to the top.

"All the participants [in Fly Buys] have had very strong growth," he said, citing the marketing opportunities available as the main lure.

"We would like to think that within the next two years we would get to No. 1 in the residential market."

By joining Fly Buys, Carpet One has significantly beefed up its marketing capability.

It has access to the Fly Buys database (the largest retail database in New Zealand) and can test direct marketing offers to potential customers based on their previous buying behaviour (for example, Fly Buys members who have recently taken out a mortgage and may be planning to redecorate).

Fly Buys was launched in September 1996 and is now used by 75 per cent of New Zealand households.

The number of participating companies has jumped from 17 to 40.

Being part of the Carpet One international co-operative, which has annual sales in excess of US$8 billion ($13.8 billion) has also helped the local firm.

Regular conferences let retailers share ideas and experiences. There also are global warranties covering price, customer satisfaction and product wear.