Page 16 - Parquet International december 2014

MARKET
Gian Luca Vialardi,
General Manager, Woodco
How did your company fare in 2014?
If we ignore the first quarter of the year, 2014 has been more than satisfactory for Woodco. Although the market was sluggish at the start of the year, we’re now reaping the benefits of some initiatives and these figures would appear to be an improvement on last year.
Have you adopted any special anti-crisis measures? We launched our new website to improve our offer; we invested in more communications; we presented new collections – including Contatto, featuring the innovative Uniclic dry click system – and we introduced some specific services for designers. What do you foresee for 2015?
We have high expectations for 2015, since not only will we be presenting innovative materials in the BerryAlloc range, but we’ll also introduce two new parquet collections dedicated to two completely distinct price brackets and stylistic needs.
Domotex, Made and Expo 2015 are approaching: what steps have you taken?
We’ve decided not to invest in trade fairs, preferring to meet our
resellers by means of a
road show. In the Spring of
2015 this will travel
around Italy, thus allowing
people to actually touch
and feel the new Woodco
collections and understand
all their advantages and
potential applications.
Luigi Cuzzocrea, President, Carver How did your company fare in 2014?
2014 was another difficult year. However, we’ve managed to keep our
sales figures steady, countering the slump in Italian sales with an increase in exports. Have you adopted any special anti-crisis measures?
We’re reduced our warehouse stock and cut our overheads. I should stress that none of these anti-crisis measures have had an effect on the quality of our products, which continues to be extremely high.
What do you foresee for 2015?
We foresee a slow turn-around on the Italian market. Our foreign markets continue to grow and so we expect this trend to continue in 2015.
Domotex, Made and Expo 2015 are approaching: what steps have you taken? We will be at Domotex as has been our custom in recent years. As regards Expo 2015, given that our head office is in Milan many potential and existing clients will be able to visit our premises in Rodano during this event.
16
THE VOICE OF BUSINESS
Lorenzo Onofri, Sales Director, Stile
How did your company fare in 2014?
Definitely a complex year for us, but full of new opportunities. Stile has faced a major upheaval, having changed its social structure and medium/long-term goals.
Have you adopted any special anti-crisis measures?
Rather than introduce any “anti-crisis measures”, we’ve actually eliminated a lot of our structure and reorganised our activities in order to guarantee better efficiency and a more dynamic response to both the Italian market (currently losing its strategic importance for Stile) and our overseas markets. North America in particular.
What do you foresee for 2015?
The future promises to be very positive. After repositioning the company and innovating our “men and means”, we’re now convinced that sales will start to pick up again. The 2015 Pricelist is guaranteed to surprise!
Domotex, Made and Expo 2015 are approaching: what steps have you taken?
To be honest, Domotex 2015 is of little interest to us, given that it’s being held at the same time as BAU. Neither are we particularly interested in Made. We don’t really see the point in taking part in the major ‘umbrella’ exhibitions, particularly in Italy. We like to focus on something more specific, especially in our new markets. We are, however, preparing for Expo
2015 and already have something interesting up our sleeves.
Giuseppe Ciambella,
Director, Ciambella Legnami
How did your company fare in 2014?
2014 has been a year of contrasts as
far as we are concerned: excellent
results in the first six months,
followed by a marked drop at the
end of the summer, due essentially to
a fall in demand from certain foreign
quarters (responsible for driving our constant growth in the past). This has been especially true in Russia.
Have you adopted any special anti-crisis measures?
In practice, we’ve doubled our expenditure on visibility, especially in Russia, by purchasing whole pages of advertising in the most prestigious magazines. We’ve also taken part in several important trade fairs, such as Made Expo WorldWide Moscow, etc.
What do you foresee for 2015?
It’s difficult – or at least it is for us – to make clear medium/long-term forecasts. All too often reality disappoints our expectations. Nevertheless, we’re looking further afield and putting more effort into expanding into certain parts of the world that we’ve neglected in recent years.
Domotex, Made and Expo 2015 are approaching: what steps have you taken?
For years our preferred showcase has been BAU Munich, after having been present at Hannover for many years. We shall, however, watch the other events very closely.