Bedding bouncing back
By David Perry -- Furniture Today, March 17, 2002
DENVER — DENVER — Leading bedding producers gathered here at the industry's biennial trade show generally reported strong first-quarter business.
That's welcome news for a category still seeking to shake off the effects of a rare down year in 2001. The official forecast calls for bedding to regain its traditional growing ways in 2002, with units expected to rise by 2% and dollars expected to post a 3% gain.
But despite the solid start posted by bedding this year, some producers remain uncertain about overall business prospects in the months to come. They generally believe dollars will be up modestly, but some aren't so sure about units.
The key sales months in the summer and fall will again be pivotal in determining how the industry performs. Still, the good start this year is a positive.
Asked about Sealy's first quarter, Ron Jones, chairman, broke into a broad smile. "I am extremely pleased," he said.
Serta is also fast out of the blocks. "We had a very strong start to 2002," said President Ed Lilly. "The industry had an increase of 10% in January, and Serta had an increase of 17%.
We had a positive sales month in February and we believe that we will continue to outperform the industry by a significant margin."
Charlie Eitel, chairman of Simmons, had a similar response. "We are very encouraged by the way our year has started, both on the top line and the bottom line," he said. "Our new Beautyrest line has been overwhelmingly well received." That line began retailing in January.
But Eitel added that "unemployment is rising, and jobs are hard to find." On the other hand, travel is picking up, and "plenty of people are spending money."
It adds up to a mixed bag for the industry. "We expect it to be a tough year," Eitel said. The industry could see a slight decrease in units, with dollars possibly posting gains of 3% to 5%, he predicted.
Also off to a good start this year is Spring Air, another major.
"We were up 20% in January, and we estimate we are up 25% for February," said Jim Nation, president of Spring Air. "What's causing that is an acceptance of our never-turn, foam-encased products. They are gaining more and more momentum."
Other keys for Spring Air: "We have a better marketing program, and we are telling our story better. We also have better personnel. We have upgraded our personnel at the corporate and plant level."
Nation said he's confident Spring Air will achieve unit growth this year, but he believes the industry will see an overall unit decline in 2002. "There are a lot of uncertainties out there," he said.
New product, new people
Therapedic said its licensees are beginning to fill retail inventories that are at low levels. In the first quarter, said Michael Pino, president, "factory sales are up for the whole group."
New products will be a key for Therapedic this year. The PureTouch latex bedding line got a strong reception at the Tupelo market, Pino said. In addition, a new national foam-encased bedding line is also coming.
"I see it as being a pretty good year," Pino said.
King Koil, which has relaunched its company with new management, a new image and new products, is doing well.
"Our first quarter is surprisingly strong," said Larry McKay, president. "We finished last year strong and are coming into some surprisingly good business. Our new line will hit in April, so we are very encouraged."
"January was extremely strong," said Ed Scott, Restonic president. "We had more than a 20% increase. February will be strong, but not nearly as strong as January."
He sees an unusually active year of promotions in 2002. "Everybody will be promoting more aggressively," Scott said. "They will be pricing goods aggressively to gain market share and to defend their market share."
Gene Schayer, president of Lady Americana Associates, had a single word for business this year: "Excellent."
He added: "The sting of 9-11 has worn off. Now we are back to business."
"It looks like business is getting better," said Daryl Tarbutton, president of Bemco. "June, July, August and September are the big months. If business keeps getting better until then, it should be a better year in 2002."
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