Two years ago, Hallmark Floors acquired Teragren Bamboo in an effort to grow its sustainable product portfolio and expand the reach of Teragren products in the U.S. and abroad. Today, that acquisition continues to prove fruitful.
Floor Covering News’ senior-associate editor, Megan Salzano, sat down with Alex Zywicki, business development manager at Hallmark/Teragren, to discuss how the acquisition has added to Hallmark’s sustainability story, grown both businesses and helped to alter the misconceptions surrounding the bamboo category.
How has the acquisition allowed Hallmark to grow its business over the past two years?Because Teragren and Hallmark now share distributors across the U.S., Hallmark’s business has absolutely grown as a result. Teragren dealers are becoming Hallmark dealers, and vice versa—it is truly a win-win situation for both brands and for our customers. Additionally, because Hallmark and Teragren inventory is housed in shared warehousing, we have made it so much easier for our distributor partners to maintain a stocking position on both brands, thus allowing retailers to sell our products with increased confidence in our local stock. How has the acquisition of Teragren Bamboo added to Hallmark’s sustainability story?
Teragren Bamboo has fit in even better than anticipated with Hallmark and our sustainability story. Hallmark is dedicated to producing products that promote a healthy home and lifestyle for our customers, so the addition of Teragren’s bamboo products to that offering has only served to naturally enhance and emphasize the commitment to sustainability for both brands and our combined customer base. How has the acquisition increased value for Teragren’s partners?
Hallmark is so well known and recognized for its innovation in color, design and beauty in hardwood flooring, and has thus brought those principals to Teragren bamboo and its product lines. Teragren’s distributors and retailers have a brand new collection of bamboo floors this year, made possible by Hallmark’s design capabilities. Additionally, with an integrated network of shared distributors for both brands across the country, Teragren’s partners benefit from Hallmark’s robust stocking/inventory capabilities, logistics and operations and experienced sales and marketing staff. At the time of the acquisition, Hallmark noted “a history of bad factories producing low-quality/cost products” in the bamboo category and the company’s goal to disprove those stigmas. Has that goal been met?
Because Teragren has always been a proponent of the highest-quality bamboo manufacturing processes and products, we have continually worked with the factories and partners of the highest caliber. As such, our goal of continuing to do so has absolutely been met. The bamboo category as a whole has also begun to bounce back from years of low-quality manufacturing. Teragren hopes to further alter the landscape of the category by supporting the highest quality factories and developing the most innovative and beautiful bamboo products on the market. What can we expect from the Teragren brand in 2019?
Teragren is focused on our commercial product offering in 2019, from our flooring products and our sheet goods (panels and veneer) to our marketing tools and sales support. We are also renewing our focus on our panels and veneer division, with the goal of ensuring we are producing the products our current and future customers require.