Thanks for all the honest feedback on the new Wilsonart merchandising system. Let me start by apologizing for the frustration that some of you are feeling with our new program. It seems that you may not be getting the whole story about what is happening with Wilsonart and I hope you'll let me do a little explaining.
First, please understand that our program was developed with the end-customers that we all serve in mind. On the residential side: consumers were telling us they were confused and sometimes overwhelmed by all the options we showed on our one-size-fits-all wallboard. They wanted us to help them narrow down the options by showing them only the best designs for countertops. That's what our new Wilsonart Home board is intended to do.
On the commercial side, for those of you who work in that world, designers want lots of options, but they told us there were too many residential designs on our board, and not enough of what they could use. The new Wilsonart Contract board offers them more of what they wanted. Together, the two lines offer the whole range of end-users more Wilsonart options than ever before - 282 items with 72 new designs.
We realize that some of you live in both worlds, which makes it challenging when we break things out as we have. We've tried to develop some tools that help you bridge the markets. I hope you'll give us time to figure out what is going to work best to meet your company's needs.
We realize we didn't get everything perfect right out of the box. This has been a big change for all of us. But we believe that, ultimately, it will mean more business for us all. We'll have to work through some of the rough spots, and your input is very helpful as we move forward.
Thank you all for your comments. I hope you'll give us the opportunity to work with you as our program evolves.
Tim Atkinson, Vice President/Sales, Wilsonart
(Post edited by admin to remove the bold, all content stayed the same)