The right mix
Stores seek value-added vendors
By Furniture Today Staff -- Furniture Today, February 24, 2002
Consolidation. Many bedding retailers are consolidating their vendor list, paring away suppliers so they can do more volume with the others.
The value of this strategy may be measured in dollars and cents, as the bedding brands provide advertising support and rebates tied to volume. The more you sell of a particular brand, the more you get back from that supplier.
This change is happening at bedding shops and at furniture stores as the factories continue to refine their incentives for generating ever larger chunks of volume. The assistance from the factories can go directly to advertising; it can justify sharper price points; or it can add fuel to the bottom line.
For instance, Factory Mattress, a chain based in Charlotte, N.C., has recently consolidated its selection and now features Park Place, Sealy, Simmons and Stearns & Foster.
"We decided to drop a couple of companies so we could be more important with Sealy and Simmons," said John Hill III, president. "We do a lot of volume with them and have been working with them for years."
Very rarely does this work against Factory Mattress when a shopper comes into the store looking for a specific brand that is not in the store's lineup, Hill said. "We try not to knock any product that we don't sell because I think it turns the customer off. What we talk about is the features and benefits of our products."
Another of the pioneers in the bedding shop category, Factory Mattress dates back to 1974 when J. Walton Hill II, having closed his full-line furniture store, wanted to create a business to occupy his son, John, who had just finished high school.
Apparently John Hill turned out to be a good student of retailing as Factory Mattress now tries to cover bedding from A to Z. The company has starter sets and moves all the way up through the luxury category with a top-end price tag of $3,999 queen.
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| Factory Mattress covers bedding A to Z. |
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