Business View Oceania | February 2020

31 32 BUSINESS VIEW OCEANIA FEBRUARY 2020 BUSINESS VIEW OCEANIA FEBRUARY 2020 kenbrock .com.au Delivering the best technology has to offer in both commercial and residential flooring. ANDERSENS FLOOR COVER INGS earned reputation as “the respected name in floor coverings.” Rowan Hodge, CEO of Andersens Floor Coverings, shares, “Our history is one of the things we’re most proud of. Our chain was born from a humble start in a really small town and that was 50 stores ago. Jack Andersen expanded from a lone store in Gatton up to Toowomba, the Gold Coast and Ipswich and once the business was franchising it grew fairly rapidly. Today, Andersens in Queensland and northern New South Wales, where we have our stores, has the most recognised, most brand-aware mark in our entire industry. It’s quite a business that’s grown out of those country town origins.” Currently, Andersens boasts 50 outlets – 46 franchised stores; 3 mobile vans; and one company-owned operation in Toowomba, a mere 20 minutes from Gatton. Commercial work –anything that’s not owner-occupied – is a large part of the business, representing a fairly significant growth opportunity in all its geographic markets. In the retail stores, a large portion of customer business is residential / owner-occupied. Diversification of product lines is key to growth. In that regard, Andersens has expanded its offerings into window coverings. According to Hodge, “Rather than being a business of its own, window furnishing has very much evolved as an add-on because we’re finding that customers who are in the market to install new flooring are often in the middle of a more complete renovation. Painting, redoing window furnishings, buying soft furnishings and lamps, upgrading lighting and fans – there are all sorts of elements to a refurbishing project. So for us to add one of the other major categories, which was window furnishings, to our product range made a lot of sense.” Most of the company’s customers are women, and Andersens’ qualified consultants are well