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Choices Flooring New Zealand

Arguably the largest brand within the Newfurn stable is that of Choices Flooring.

In 1993, Newfurn launched the Carpet Choice brand with 17 stores within Victoria.  Since then, after a further brand update, Choices Flooring has rapidly grown to include more than 140 stores across Australia. 

It was in 2016 that Newfurn announced their intentions to broaden their Choices Flooring retail network into New Zealand. Over this time, much due diligence and research had been conducted to ensure the move was going to be the right one. By 2021, Choices Flooring had grown to seven stores located across both the North and South Island.

Great brands leave an indelible impression with consumers through the clever use of visual clues, or mnemonics, like the Choices Flooring name, logo and brand marque.

Whilst the Choices Flooring brand has these attributes, it also has the inherent promise of our core brand idea and consumer offering – choices.

More surface choices, more contemporary colours and patterns, more versatile textures and more ways to help our consumers find the floor they’ve been searching for… without the hassle of travelling all over town.

Newfurn believes in strongly supporting associated brands at every consumer touchpoint, from research through to purchase stages.  That’s why we invest heavily in focused Choices Flooring marketing strategies that consistently engage and drive consumers into our member retail stores.

It starts with our impactful and highly memorable television and online campaign commercials.

The emotion and energy of these commercials are unique to the category.  From television to online, these campaigns seamlessly roll into other advertising mediums, including radio, press, catalogue and additional online channels, to provide consumers with a seamless brand experience, at both a national and local level.

At Newfurn we also have an internal studio made up of multimedia, photographic and design capabilities.  Our inhouse dedicated marketers and designers mean we not only save our retail members time and money, but we also have an intimate understanding of the industry as opposed to outside agencies.

Over the past few years’ digital has dramatically changed the Australian and New Zealand retail environment, linking consumers, devices and data for smarter shopping experiences.

 

From the high street to online, in-store to mobile applications. When effectively utilised, digital enriches the in-store experience by tailoring products to consumers’ personal requirements.  It also supports sales and enhances brand connection by creating meaningful experiences that move consumers from transacting to conversing with brands.

As a result of the digital retail renaissance, a recent report on floor coverings in Australia said that in order for flooring retailers to survive it was imperative that they deliver a seamless consumer experience across all channels, to simultaneously provide the right service and product.

With an average of 120,000 unique visitors to the Choices Flooring website every month, our websites are continually developed in line with our consumers changing buying behaviours to make every online experience a positive one, whilst also driving leads and foot traffic for our member retailers.

In 2020, Choices Flooring launched RoomView, an online room visualiser tool, allowing customers to seamlessly insert flooring into their own room settings within seconds.  Since it’s launch, over 1 million consumers have uploaded images into the system, providing valuable leads for all Choices Flooring retailers across Australasia.

The technical and high-end Search Engine Optimisation and Search Engine Marketing programs are driven by external specialists from across the world that continue to implement successful digital initiatives that grow our brands in all facets of the digital environment.  This includes the use of multimedia re-marketing, organic search and display advertising.

Choices Flooring’s online community program is used to raise awareness and engagement with likeminded consumers via areas such as Instagram, Pinterest, Houzz and Facebook, which also allow us to target niche markets. Our YouTube presence continues to dominate the Australasian retail industry, with our channel recently clocking over two million views.

However, consumers don’t buy what we sell, they buy what we stand for.

Our proven product mix delivers results that cannot be achieved independently or through other groups.  Knowing our consumers has helped us re-engineer and develop our product offering to suit their needs.  Whether it’s carpet, timber, laminate, luxury vinyl, hybrid flooring or rugs, we have the perfect solution for every space.

We’ve established and solidified relationships with a majority of suppliers and distributors to assist our member retailers with their day-to-day product requirements.

Our Choices Flooring business strategy is all about making every one of our member retailers a one-stop-shop for all interior flooring surfaces.  We provide a co-ordinated range, so consumers have the ability to mix ‘n’ match to create the perfect foundation for their space.  It’s about the rug that complements their new timber floor, or the stylish and durable laminate that’s ideal for the kid’s playroom.

At Choices Flooring, we conduct an innovative strategy of exclusive products and promotions across all categories.  Exclusive product brands such as Brease, Serenity, Harlow and Windsor carpet ranges; to hard flooring solutions within Plantino, Genero, Abode Collections effectively differentiate us from our competitors, demonstrating the benefits of intelligent brand diversity.

In 2017, Choices Flooring introduced MOOD window furnishings into the product matrix.  This new category provides further scope for our retailers to promote window treatments as part of the selling process.

So, when consumers come looking, we ensure our member retailers have the right product mix at all the right price points.

At Choices Flooring,  we’ve emerged out of this changing landscape with the development of our Choices Flooring store evolution, providing us with one of the most sophisticated digital platforms in the retail flooring industry.

Since its introduction in 2013, our member retailers are evolving their stores with introduction of new in store displays, a streamlined product approach and adoption of in-store technology.

The in-store technology we refer to is the Inspiration Stations, digital POS and our bespoke Business Operating System.  The Inspiration Station has been developed to not only provide value to our consumers while supporting the sales process, but to also engage consumers actively in their journey to find the floor they’ve been searching for.

Many of our member retailers are embracing this change, growing alongside our consumers changing lifestyles to make shopping easier and more convenient.

From a business operating perspective, the industry we operate has been antiquated.  Following on from a comprehensive technology review in 2013, it was clear Choices Flooring needed a business operating system that assisted our member retailers in further enhancing the consumer in-store experience while also supporting the day-to-day operations of running their businesses.

With an almost four-million-dollar overall investment by the Group, our unique Business Operating System, known as the BOS, is a purpose built system and not something you can buy off the shelf. It has been tailored and built by our member retailers for our member retailers, to provide them with the flexibility to serve consumers and manage their businesses from both inside and outside of their showrooms.  In 2021, the BOS further extended its product offering with the inclusion of a Customer Relationship Management (or CRM) system.  The CRM will not only assist in following up customers and act as a silent salesperson, but if used correctly will assist Choices Flooring retailers increase sales conversions.

One of our ultimate objectives is to deliver a seamless online experience for consumers to engage with throughout their decorating project.  At the heart of this strategy is our innovative and inspirational websites that are easily accessible across both mobile and desktop devices, showcasing our exclusive flooring solutions and retail member stores.