Gill Finch, Managing Director of flooring protection specialist Stroolmount, talks about the hidden opportunities for flooring and furniture since the Covid pandemic.
The great social experiment worked: hybrid working is here to stay. While, the pandemic was the catalyst to explode agile working, technological advances meant it was already a growing expectation especially among millennials.
In a 2023 report by Standout CV, which takes figures from the Office of National Statistics (ONS) and other major publications, it’s clear to see the sea-change to working from home.
The statistics are startling.
• 44% of UK British people work from home at least some of the time (28% hybrid, 16% full-time remote)
• Only 1.5% of UK workers worked remotely in 1981 according to a recent WISERD report
• In 2019 (pre-pandemic), 27% of the workforce worked remotely at some point.
• 7 in 10 companies allow hybrid and remote working, compared to 4 in 10 before the pandemic.
• 39% of all global workers will work a hybrid model by the end of 2023, forecasts Gartner.
• Most people earning over £20,000 a year are choosing a hybrid working model – and 94% earning over £50,000 a year can choose a hybrid working model
The hidden opportunity for the flooring industry
While the pandemic led to an initial scramble for home office furniture, the ongoing future demand will be for replacement flooring.
Why?
Because more people working from home means more traffic on home flooring.
It also means more floors getting damaged from both the weight of chairs and their more frequent scraping back and forth.
Fortunately, one company has a range of specialist flooring protection products that prevent damage:
Stroolmount
Stroolmount products are an add-on sales opportunity for the furniture and flooring trade to sell to customers so their flooring stays looking its best for longer:
Proven Stroolmount solutions to cushion the feet of furniture onto flooring include: self-adhesive felt, Furni-glides and hard-wearing, award winning interchangeable QuickclickGlides.
With Stroolmount’s exclusive QuickClick glides, furniture can easily be moved between carpet to tiles to hard wood flooring in different rooms – just by clicking in the new type of glide.
Protection from 1p
“With penny protection, it’s daft not to protect yourself and your customers” says Stroolmount’s MD and snooker fan Gill Finch. “I’ve saved customers £1,000s in insurance claims, saved the hassle of refitting flooring and saved hefty hikes in next year’s insurance premiums.”
Take a look at how Stroolmount can give you add-on sales and increase the frequency when customers return to your store.
