Bauwerk Parkett was originally founded by Ernst Göhner in 1944 and has since evolved from a regional player into Europe’s leading developer, manufacturer and supplier of parquet flooring in the premium segment as well as the second-largest market participant in wood flooring. This was possible not least thanks to the takeover of Bauwerk Parkett by Zurmont Madison Private Equity and EGSB in 2009. The commitment and financial investment by these partners created the prerequisite for Bauwerk‘s international expansion and growth strategy, including the 2013 merger with Norwegian Boen to found the Bauwerk Boen Group. Volumes increased from 3.5 million square meters in 2010 to over 9.5 million square meters annually. The Bauwerk Boen Group today offers a complementary portfolio of two- and three-layer parquets as well as wooden sports flooring under the two brands Bauwerk and Boen.

The Bauwerk Boen Group management team will remain unchanged under the long-term aegis of ceo Klaus Brammertz and there will be no changes to the successful group strategy. Brammertz is convinced “that with the measures we have implemented over the past years, including production optimization and efficiency measures, the Bauwerk Boen Group is well positioned to continue on the growth path, gain further market shares and achieve sustainable profit improvements“. Following the merger of the two companies Bauwerk Parkett and Boen, the group relocated production from Salzburg (A) to Kietaviškės (Lithuania), invested into the modernisation of the St. Margrethen (CH) facilities and is currently building up a state-of-the-art parquet factory in Croatia to secure sustainable raw materials’ supply as well as realise better capacity utilization.

Werner Schnorf, managing director of Patrimonium Private Equity and Chairman of Bauwerk Boen Group, commented: “It was an exciting challenge to accompany and support the development of the Bauwerk Boen Group into a new dimension over the past 8 years. According to our buy and build strategy, we provided financial backing and our industrial know-how to consequently develop Bauwerk Parkett from a niche player with a regional reach into Bauwerk Boen as a leading pan-European parquet flooring manufacturer. As the Group now has the size and stability to successfully execute on the strategic path taken, we are happy to pass our shareholding onto a committed partner who will continue to support the Group in its further development“.

Dominik Sauter, managing director of EGSB added: “Having been a co-owner since 2009 and supporting the company in its international expansion strategy, we now look forward to accompany Bauwerk Boen Group as a long-term oriented majority shareholder into the next development phase. We are convinced that the company will be able to further successfully build on its strong position and achieve sustainable profitability in an overall healthy market development“.

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Parquet cannot be ‘sold’. A customer comes to appreciate it as something of quality which ‘decorates the floor’.  This phrase always raises an ironic smile and a comment “I wish!”.  What I want to emphasise is that parquet is considered as part of everything which determines the quality of life.

First of all parquet is not a floor, but a style

Canada is cold, very cold.  A wooden floor, which you can walk on with bare feet, is very inviting.  In the United States, the temperature is milder than in the north, but parquet gives you something to sit on to drink a drop of wine.  These examples might seem exaggerated, even though they summarise lifestyles and personal, intimate ways of socializing, but they confirm the concept that parquet is not just a floor, but a style.

Still speaking of North America, do you remember the great battle between parquet and fitted carpet. This has now been more or less won by wood, even though we must give carpet an honourable surrender as it was typical of an epoch.

Nowadays, we do not use parquet just to cover a floor, but, on the contrary, wood decorates and leaves its mark.  It brings a certain aroma and style of life to a house.  This is the first concept you have to understand and transmit to your customers, when you are making a presentation of the product.

Parquet: hygiene and warmth

In a world in which we all suffer from allergies, parquet has an extra value of ‘cleanliness’ and therefore health.  We all need things around us to be clean.  Wood floors are the answer to various allergies (let’s remember the constant attention necessary for people who live with animals, cats, dogs etc.) But this is not all.  Wood is also a help in the case of disabled people at home.  We can easily mount and move guides on wood to direct wheelchair movements and ease difficulties for those who are differently able.

Wood floors retain heat – and this is important for elderly people who struggle constantly with the cold – and softens any falls, which can be very serious at an advanced age.

“Tell me about yourself and I’ll show you your ideal wood floor”

You have to attribute a behavioural style to every type of wood floor.  Even though there are still technical differences between one type or another, customers must fully understand their choice, which must be connected to different lifestyles.

A young couple, on the threshold of a life which will include children, do well to choose a light coloured floor tone, while more mature people, with adolescent children, can tend towards darker tones, which suggest a house which is always kept tidy.  The important thing is to stop presenting the product only from the point of view of its technical characteristics without considering the importance of behavioural and personality identification.  In short, when selling, the thought should be “Tell me about yourself and I’ll show you your ideal wood floor”.

We are talking about a ‘game’ as a new dimension in the relationship between a floor and its use, a dimension which has never before been considered as an expression of personality.

The price factor

If I was a powerful man, able to manage a factory producing parquet, I would say to the clients that price is truly the last thing to think about, in the sense that they need to have open minds to consider all aspects.

This does not mean I would like to sell all floors in instalments.  However, what I want to say is that it is necessary to suit the payment to the client and, for example, consider every instalment on the basis of the client’s income.  This means personalizing payments according to the clients’ needs.  Once they have paid a deposit and reached 45% of the cost of the floor, they will start to see it being ‘laid’.  When the work is finished and a reckoning is done 55-60% of the cost will have been paid and the rest will come after.

Therefore, it is possible to find the right relationship between income and monthly instalment to have a wood floor and this means that the market opens the door to competition.  A hypothesis could be that 5% or 7% of monthly income would be what the floor layer could ask for the work.

In a post-globalization era (therefore a critical moment of transition from globalization) it is important that the cost of a wood floor does not exclude anyone from having one.  The product’s characteristics just need to be explained well.

Do you work with a high-end quality product?  The subject naturally changes.  If you can explain to your customer (who is economically comfortable) the intrinsic quality of the product (hand-made!) which you are selling and the enormous advantages of a wood floor (in terms of health, eco-compatibility, design personalization), the price factor becomes of secondary importance.

Layers and sellers – what’s their approach?

‘Selling’ is a horrible word.  Going back to the start of this article, it is not about selling something but about explaining its use.

Look at how the terminology changes too.  Someone who wants – and lives – parquet is not a customer, but a user who chooses a particular lifestyle.

All of these matters and details should be organized into a dialogue (not a monologue!) with whoever visits the showroom or parquet shop.  I could even say that it would be wise, as a playful exercise, to make a parquet user complete a lighthearted questionnaire to identify their parquet soul mate.  All these aspects necessitate the organization of a sales plan which is innovative and ‘aggressive’ in the sense that it can profoundly influence the way of presenting the world of parquet to the user.

The author

Giovanni Carlini is a consumer sociologist.  In his own words, he has been “taught to appreciate the world of parquet since 2000” and found himself “catapulted into North America, becoming a member of the National Wood Flooring Association”.  Speaking of parquet, in the last 17 years, he has committed himself to understanding client behavior and how parquet is presented and ‘explained’.  Up to now he has visited and studied 4,000 companies (out of the 98,000 currently active in the United States and Canada) which produce or sell parquet.  In his words, “I still have a lot to learn”.

www.giovannicarlini.com  

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1. High quality: it’s a 2-layer pre-finished big plank, with birch plywood support and 4 mm thick top layer, micro-beveled on the 4 sides and brushed.
2. Suitable for floating laying:  easy and fast to lay, it’s the right solution both in case of renovation or new projects.
3. 13 different colours: divided in 5 nuances (“natural”, “the whites”, “the browns”, “the greys”, “the bleached”) to meet any taste and modern design requirements.
4. Competitive price: to meet any market needs and budget.
5. Made in Italy: assembled, profiled and finished in Italy.

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The regular maintenance of the surface treated with ECØ V has to be done with Velurex range of products.

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Monocomponent silane adhesive specifically for gluing all types of wooden foors on cement-based sub-foors or on pre-existing non-absorbent oors (marble, tiles, agstones, wood surfaces). If applied evenly on the laying surface, WB Mono MS creates a waterproofing barrier that helps prevent damp rising up from concrete subfoors.

Technical characteristics

– Monocomponent
– 100 % MS Technology
– High performance
– Suitable for gluing all types of wood ooring – Easy to clean
– Free from isocyanates and ammines
– Solvent-free
– Water-free
– ISO 17178 compliant – elastic

L'articolo WB Mono MS Performance Plus sembra essere il primo su I Love Parquet.