Bedding brands brandish their strength
Simmons, Serta expand into specialty arena
By David Perry -- Furniture Today, April 28, 2002
HIGH POINT — Retailers here gave strong support to conventional bedding brands, including two that were expanded into the specialty sleep arena.
No. 1 player Sealy said it got a good response to its new Posturepedic, Back Saver and Posture Premier mattresses. Sealy also enhanced its Bassett line, which it said is the fastest-growing brand in its portfolio.
"We're pleased with the customers we saw and the quality of the conversations we had," said Mark Hobson, Sealy's corporate vice president of marketing. "Our attendance was about where it was last market."
Retailers visiting the Sealy showroom just outside High Point were upbeat about business prospects this year, Hobson said.
David Evans, Sealy's vice president of marketing, said retailers see Sealy's introductions as a way to build on the momentum they have created so far this year.
Simmons, another conventional bedding major, made news by returning to the specialty sleep category with a seven-bed line of air and waterbeds produced and marketed by Halcyon Waterspring.
Anthony Santino, sales manager for Halcyon's Strata division, said, "The response to the new Simmons line was really good. We brought in a lot of Simmons dealers who never considered air and water, and they said they're ready for it."
Boyd Specialty Sleep did well with an expansion to its line of Simmons-branded temporary airbeds. A new pillowtop bed retails for $129, joining beds that retail for $79 and $149 in that program.
Denny Boyd, president, said the Simmons brand is helpful in encouraging consumers to purchase the airbeds.
And Serta, also a major conventional bedding producer, entered the futon category with a new line of frames and futons produced by Wolf Corp.
"We had a good launch here," said President Tony Wolf. "We'll have an even better launch in the field. My sense from the retailers here is that a lot of people want this product."
The Serta-branded frames and futons retail from $299 to $599.
PureTouch, a new line of latex bedding being marketed by Therapedic licensees, was exhibited at the Latin America Home Furnishings Center on an appointment-only basis.
"It was a good opportunity for us," said Michael Pino, Therapedic's president. Stewart Perry, PureTouch president, said, "We got a very favorable reaction from the retailers who saw it."
Another Top 10 bedding producer, Kingsdown, brought a host of new products to market, including unique vertically zoned mattresses using a combination of foam and fiber to respond differently to different body shapes.
"We had a very strong market," said Tom McLean, Kingsdown's senior vice president of marketing. "We saw people we have never seen, and had a higher closing ratio."
Thomasville's bedding line, produced by Chittenden & Eastman, continued to gain ground. "Our bedding market was very good," said Ryan Tessau, merchandise manager for Thomasville wood products.
Among the hits was Madison County, a foam-encased, one-sided bed that retails for $1,099 to $1,199 in queen. "Everyone who looked at this added it to their floor," Tessau said.
Ashley, another full-line resource with a bedding program, said bedding was a "very strong" performer this market.
That was the assessment of Chuck Landau, vice president of sleep products. He added, "Normally, we get a lot of conversation about bedding, but not orders. This market we got orders."
Ashley's introductions included three upper-end beds, all one-sided, featuring a coil-on-coil construction in the mattress. "People have accepted the one-sided mattress," Landau said.
Officials at Tempur-Pedic were all smiles. "It was the best market we've had since we came here in 1999," said David Fogg, president of the Retail Division. "We had constant traffic from both existing and new dealers."
Tempur-Pedic scored with a new visco-elastic pillow, retailing from $125 to $150, and a new 10-inch visco-elastic mattress, retailing at $1,899.
United Sleep Products also was pleased, said Paul Sullivan, executive vice president and general manager.
Among the hits at United were a new one-sided, foam-encased pillowtop mattress and ready-to-assemble home entertainment furniture that is part of the company's Simmons Futons program.
"We make both one-sided and two-sided mattresses," Sullivan said. "We let consumers and retailers pick. We are definitely seeing growth in the one-sided products."
Another futon producer, Gold Bond, gave the market great grades.
"This was our best market ever, by far," said President Bob Naboicheck. "The right retailers came in and bought."
He said Gold Bond did well with both full-line furniture stores and bedding sleep shops.
Linon introduced an unusual polyurethane and memory-foam mattress from Italy that pops into shape when removed from a plastic bag. The air is extracted before the mattress is rolled up like a sleeping bag for shipment to dealers. The bed retails at $79 in twin and is offered in cot, twin, full and queen sizes. It's ideal for bunk beds and other uses, said Jim Ziozis, president.
Classic Sleep Products did well with a split-top, king-sized visco-elastic and latex bed that is adjustable on both sides. It retails at about $6,000.
| Paul Sullivan demonstrates a new RTA side cabinet that is part of the Simmons Futon lineup. |
| Tony Wolf relaxes on a new Serta-branded futon and frame produced and marketed by Wolf Corp. |
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