At TISE 2026, one message came through clearly from rug retailers and showroom operators:
They need better technology for running the showroom—especially around CRM and POS.
Most stores still rely on QuickBooks for accounting and try to use it to run daily showroom operations such as customer management, quoting, inventory, invoicing, communication, and payments. Many struggle to make that work.
Others are using outdated software. Some are still running key parts of the business on paper.
Across the show floor, retailers described the same underlying problem: their systems were not built for how a modern rug showroom actually operates.
Most rug retailers continue to manage their business using a mix of spreadsheets, email, accounting software, paper tickets, and disconnected tools to handle customers, inventory, cleaning and repair, deliveries, and billing. That approach can work at a small scale, but it becomes fragile as volume, service work, and locations increase—and as customers expect a faster, more modern buying experience.
What people consistently asked for was simple, modern operations.
Fewer steps.
Fewer handoffs.
Fewer places for information to be lost.
The same challenges came up in nearly every conversation:
- Quotes are difficult to manage and often inaccurate
- Inventory is unreliable
- Payments are slow or hard to reconcile
- Office work takes far more time than it should
We also heard something important about buying behavior.
Stores begin evaluating new software when it clearly removes friction from daily operations—especially around quoting, job tracking, installations, cleaning and repair, inventory, and billing.
The takeaway from TISE 2026 is straightforward:
Rug retailers are looking for better systems, fewer workarounds, and clearer operational foundations—so their teams can spend less time fixing mistakes and chasing information, and more time running the business.