Feltex launches new carpet in Australia

Press, 5 August 1981, Page 23

Feltex launches new carpet in Australia

PA Sydney The New Zealand carpet maker, Feltex, launched its new product on the Australian market with nearly $5 million worth of firm orders already in hand. Mr Alf Pollard, generalmanager. marketing, for Feltex Furnishings of New Zealand said the company was spending around $1.5 million promoting its new Feltex International Designer Collection carpet range on the Australian market.

It will involve a huge television advertising campaign in Sydney and Melbourne as well as extensive advertising in quality magazines.

•'lt is our biggest promotion bar none." he said in Sydney.

The new carpet range. de-

signed by internationally known Pierre Cardin of France was unveiled to the public last week.

Mr Pollard said that the company hoped to sell $lO-15 million worth of the New Zealand made wool carpet in Australia this year, so boosting its annual carpet sales here to $25-30 million.

If the new top of the market range residential carpet sells well in the competitive Australian market. Feltex then aims to sell it in South-East Asia and the United States. Mr Pollard said that extensive research on the consumer. the retail trade, the colour and wool requirements. and other aspects had been done for the Australian launch of the product. "For a sophisticated mar-

ket like this there is no other answer," he said.

"The display’s have got to be outstanding. There is no other way of doing it."

He said Feltex was the main exporter of carpet to Australia from New Zealand and it was keen now to get established as a supplier of home-use carpet, as opposed to commercial.

This was important as Australian carpet manufacturers. because of the higher value Australian dollar, were finding it- increasingly difficult to sell on the New Zealand market, and may not be keen to expand the annual quotas next year for the amount of wool-rich carpet each country could send to the other under the New Zealand Australia Free Trade Agreement.