A subterranean floor covering store lies beneath a nondescript shopping center in Springfield, Va.—a census-designated place (CDP) in the upper middle class Fairfax County. But there is nothing nondescript about Carpetland, a family-owned retail business that has been around for 48 years, all but three in its current location. A second store sits about 11 miles north outside Falls Church, Va.
Carpetland, a multi-million-dollar retailer owned by the Yavari family, attributes much of its recent growth to the Mohawk Edge program. A Premier dealer, Carpetland recently signed on to become one of the early adoptees of the revamped Edge Stores program, designed to provide premium benefits and support for its members.
Carpetland has been family owned and operated since 1977. One can say the business is an illustration of the American dream. Mike Yavari, now in his late 70s, immigrated to the U.S. right around the time of the fall of the Shah in Iran. “He went to college at George Washington, started his own business and now he’s doing really well,” said his son, John, who runs the business today.
At one time the Yavaris also sold mattresses, furniture and wallpaper, but flooring has been the product that has stood the test of time for nearly five decades. The business services everything from rental properties to someone working with a designer.
Throughout it all, Carpetland faced the same challenges as most retailers—maintaining margins, generating leads, merchandising, marketing, differentiated product assortment, etc. And that’s where the Mohawk Edge program gave the retailer a boost. “Carpetland always had a strong working relationship with Mohawk, so when the Edge program came into existence it was a natural extension,” Yavari said. “It only bettered our relationship with them.”
Initially, Yavari was most attracted to the elevated co-op dollars Edge dealers are afforded. But he quickly realized some of the other benefits the program provides. As a Premier dealer, Carpetland is ranked at the top in dealer locator searches. “If somebody is looking on Mohawk’s website for a retailer, the Edge dealers are listed at the very top, so it secured our position as a reliable source of their product,” he explained.
The obvious benefit was greater traffic coming into the store. “There were leads that were generated directly from people doing Mohawk searches,” he said.
The next benefit Yavari realized was exclusive product—and if it wasn’t exclusive he was still getting it before non-Edge dealers. It’s a differentiator when a dealer has something another store does not. “I know salespeople don’t get the best reputation,” Yavari said. “If we can build trust before we ever open our mouths, that’s helpful. This isn’t usually a business where you take orders. You have to listen to people, find out what they want, what they need and then base that off what you have in the store. If they come in wanting and/or needing a product they saw online, then the fact that it’s already displayed and shown here is a huge advantage.”
High-touch service
Yavari was also touting the white glove service he receives, or what Mohawk refers to as a personal concierge. “There really was never an issue with calling Mohawk and placing an order, but you’d get somebody different every time,” he said. “They weren’t necessarily familiar with your business. And if you had to file a claim or order a sample, you would often get shuffled around. Edge dealers have a personal concierge, who, after a couple of phone calls, know who you are. And they picked the crème de la crème of customer service people. It just makes life easier dealing with one person.”
Yavari also touted the Carpetland website, which was rebuilt through Mohawk’s Omnify program. “Our original website was more or less what you’d expect from a family-owned carpet shop,” he said. “This one is very professional. Before, we could upload photos of our own carpet, our own specials. Now, we’ve got digital catalogs from every major manufacturer on the website. The contact form is nice. People just fill that out and get an email. We also have a blog section, which helps with the organic searching and answers basic flooring questions.”
He particularly cited how high it ranks organically for the important keyword searches. “If someone is searching for carpet, LVP or hardwood, it’s very easy to get our site ranked on the first page toward the top of Google,” he said. “It’s well-built and well-managed. Also, the digital advertising through Edge and Omnify has been very effective when it was handled through Mohawk.”
All of the above means nothing without results. What has Carpetland experienced since becoming an Edge partner? “Lead generation and closing rates definitely went up,” Yavari said. “Our net profit has gone up. Until inflation went through the roof, we were noticing solid increased profit margins, something like 35% to over 40%.”
Next progression: Becoming an Edge Stores member
Given the positive results Yavari experienced as an Edge Premier dealer, it only made sense for him to take the next step and become one of the first Edge Stores members since the program was reinvigorated at Mohawk’s Edge Summit in December. Edge Stores offers tools and services that deeply support the needs of retailers who are most closely aligned with Mohawk products.
Yavari said the decision was easy. “The key thing that stood out initially was the increased co-op, but a lot of it is geared toward not just increasing your visibility online but improving the showroom experience,” he said. “Because both Mohawk and I want to sell better goods, the only reliable way to do that is to get people into your store to show them the difference between good, better and premium goods. So improving the showroom experience includes everything from the lighting to the samples to display modules, but also this interactive touch screen [Roomvo kiosk] that allows people to shop online while they’re in my store.”
The Roomvo kiosk is the same room visualizer consumers can utilize via a retailer’s website, only the kiosk is a large-scale version that allows consumers to bring their home to the showroom, Yavari said. The difference is the retailer can physically bring them that sample. “We can say, ‘This is the picture in your home; this is the exact piece of wood or carpet,’” Yavari said. “I’m hoping it creates a comfort level with consumers. They can immediately see, as best as possible, what this exact product will look like in their home. A side benefit is maybe I won’t lose so many samples over the course of a year because consumers won’t feel so inclined to take them home anymore.”
Another component of Edge Stores is what Mohawk calls a showroom lighting solution. The thought behind this is that due to the configuration and natural lighting within showrooms, product can look completely different at different times of the day. This solution was a tunable light that standardizes the appearance of a product. “This furniture lamp lets you change the warmth of the light coming from the LED bulb,” he said. “Throw down your sample underneath that light and ask the customer, ‘What’s your house like?’ Day light, warm light, cool light, and you can see the colors. It’s just another thing that lets people feel they’ve truly made an informed choice when they leave the showroom. And it’s not something you’re going to find when you go to the next flooring store. Home Depot is not going to have it. I’m all for anything that makes the experience in our showroom better.”
While Carpetland, as a Premier dealer, always ranked at the top of the dealer locator, he is ensured of maintaining that position as an Edge Stores member, which now gets priority over all dealers. “I won’t lie; that was part of it, too,” Yavari said. “We worked hard to be at the top, and then the fact that another retailer could sign on [to be an Edge Stores member] and be put above us was a bitter pill. But we have such a good relationship with Mohawk that it almost wouldn’t make sense for us not to be a part of Edge Stores.” For the record, Yavari said more than 80% of his business is with Mohawk and its slew of brands.
Another component to Edge Stores may be one of the most important: RSA training, which is included at no cost for the first two salespeople. And that’s something Yavari is extremely excited about—for good reason. “The idea excites me because I’ve done a couple Mohawk trainings before. One was how to reply to leads online. I took two of our newer hires with me. They’re also younger, so they may be less apt to respond to leads. They’re the ones who live with their phone in their hands. But it actually has helped one of the newer hires increase his sales substantially. So, if these trainings are anything like that, I’m excited. The more knowledge about how the current shopping process works in a lot of people’s minds, the better. More knowledge has never been a bad thing.”
Edge Stores members also get priority shipping of displays, samples and POP kits. Yavari has already witnessed the speed at which he received updates for products he intends to stock this year. “This is the fastest I’ve ever gotten samples,” he said.
The priority on POP kits can also help his business. “When people walk in the store, they see the same images on the display as they saw online, whether it be on a YouTube ad or on one of my ads coinciding with the campaign. It helps us maintain the same level of trust that you’re seeing in a big box store. This is a family-owned business. But giving us the digital and physical credibility [puts us on a level playing field].”
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