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Luxury bedding speaks volumes to retailers and their customers

By David Perry -- Furniture Today, January 27, 2002

HIGH POINT — If a picture is worth a thousand words, then pictures of luxury beds are worth thousands of dollars.

That's certainly the case with the roundup of high-end sleep sets pictured here. Each of these beds brings in thousands of dollars to the retailers who sell them. These are big-ticket, high-profit transactions. And the consumers are smiling, too, because the bedding cradles them in comfort.

The high-end bedding market — loosely defined as sleep sets that retail for $1,000 or above — has exploded in recent years.

One of the most tangible signs of its strength is the amazing growth of Stearns & Foster, a premium brand that now generates revenues in excess of $200 million, the company says.

That ranks Stearns & Foster, part of the Sealy stable, as one of the industry's largest bedding brands in its own right, according to Jim Ross, director of marketing for Stearns & Foster. That brand was relaunched in 1994 exclusively as an upper-end line — and it has been growing rapidly ever since.

Another company that has enjoyed rapid growth with high-end bedding is Kingsdown, which ranks as a Top 10 bedding producer, according to Furniture/Today market research. That producer raised plenty of eyebrows in 1991 when it came out with a bed at the then unheard of price of $2,000. "People thought no one would buy it," recalled David Tenuta, Kingsdown's vice president of marketing and sales.

But consumers did buy the Kingsdown beds and the numerous other high-end models that the company has brought out since then.

Now a number of major producers are vying for a share of the high-end market — another sign of the category's growing success.

No one knows the exact size of the high-end bedding market. Estimates range from 5% to as much as 20% of all bedding sold.

What is clear, however, is that consumers of many different types will pay $1,000 or more for a sleep set. That's good news for retailers, who get more gross profit dollars from these sleep sets than their less expensive brethren.

Plus, consumers love the luxurious comfort and support they receive from these richly upholstered, plush beds, producers say.

Stearns & Foster

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Bed: Bonne Nuit (French for "good night")

Retail: $4,999 in queen, $5,999 in king

Key features: Belgian damask cover is a non-repeating pattern inspired by a stained glass window in Notre Dame cathedral. Quilt features cashmere and DuPont Comforel Comfort Clusters. Four-inch core of French latex.

Retailers should consider this bed because: "It's the best Stearns & Foster bed on the market. These top of the line beds sell and retailers make a lot of profit on them."

— Jim Ross,

director of marketing, Stearns & Foster

Kingsdown

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Bed: Passions Chardonnay

Retail: $3,000 in queen, $3,600 in king

Key features: Lace-tufted. Italian jacquard cover. Silicone fibers quilted to cover. Convoluted foams. Encased, nested coils. Helical-tied, full-coil boxspring.

Retailers should consider this bed because: "Consumers will buy it. Consumers can feel the difference in this bed. It has that nesting feel, almost like you are royalty."

— David Tenuta,

vice president of marketing and sales,

Kingsdown

Spring Air

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Bed: Chattam & Wells Alexandria

Retail: $3,500 in queen, $4,000 in king

Key features: Belgian damask cover. Quilted cotton upholstery. Layer of latex foam. Mattress is inner-tufted to reduce body impressions. Eight-way, hand-tied foundation.

Retailers should consider this bed because: "It would position them as the luxury bedding retailer and deliver the ultimate sleeping surface to their consumers."

— Jim Nation,

president,

Spring Air

Masterpiece

(a wholly owned subsidiary of Serta)

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Bed: Finale

Retail: $4,999 in queen, $5,599 in king

Key features: Cashmere quilted to convoluted foam. Luxury channels for "down-like" sleep surface. Visco-Elastic foam. Eight-way, hand-tied boxspring. Latex foam.

Retailers should consider this bed because: "Masterpiece has designed the Finale, as well as its entire line of mattresses, for the consumer who wants only the best. Masterpiece promises this particular consumer 'intelligent indulgence.'"

— Mark Quinn, vice president and brand manager,

Masterpiece

Sealy

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Bed: Posturepedic Crown Jewel Elsworth

Retail: $2,099 in queen, $2,599 in king

Key features: Stylish Amethyst-colored cover. EuroTop construction. Picture-frame quilting. Cashmere in quilt. Layer of convoluted latex-like foam.

Retailers should consider this bed because: "For the technology, support, comfort, value and look it offers. This is a compelling product, fashion-forward, with an appealing, yet differentiated look that will produce sales at high margins."

— Mark Wozniak,

director of marketing, Sealy

Simmons

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Bed: Beautyrest World Class Exceptionale Vanderbilt Super Pillow Top

Retail: $1,800 in queen, $2,100 in Olympic Queen, $2,200 in king

Key features: Two-tiered, coil-on-coil construction. Highest level of Motion Separation between sleeping partners. Single-sided design with reinforced head, foot and edges. Cumulus Memory Foam.

Retailers should consider this bed because: "Putting the Vanderbilt Super Pillow Top on your floor is a unique step-up opportunity for your customers and for you. This unique bed offers superior pocketed-coil construction and exquisite details at a luxury price point."

— Don Hofmann, senior vice president of marketing, Simmons

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