Hardwood specialty products: a billion dollar product line for home center retailers

Hardwood specialty products, a significant product line in the home center market, were studied using a mail survey. The hardwood products that were examined included boards, panels, moulding, and flooring. The first phase of this study characterized these hardwood specialty products in terms of value, quality, dimensions, and product type. Two distinct market segments emerged, the Top 100 home centers (in terms of sales) and the more typical smaller home centers. Each of these segments merchandised a different product mix, with strong differences in the area of quality and standard dimensions. Oak is the dominant species in the home center marketplace. Suggestions for improving hardwood specialty products were centered around standardizing product lines and improving product quality. The total home center market for the four major product lines was approximately $1 billion in 1986 and the fastest growing segment, hardwood boards, is predicted to grow 138 percent from 1986 to 1991 for the Top 100 home centers.

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