Bedding makers target hot niches
By David Perry -- Furniture Today, April 19, 2004
HIGH POINT — Bedding introductions are on the light side this market.
That's not an altogether surprising development, given the fact that new flagship lines generally last a year or two in the marketplace before they are revamped. And several majors brought out new flagship lines in High Point last year.
This market, bedding producers are rounding out their lines with products targeting hot growth niches — such as visco-elastic bedding.
Sparked by the success of category leader Tempur-Pedic, visco-elastic bedding shows no signs of slowing down at retail.
New visco offerings this market are being introduced by Gold Bond, Therapedic, United Sleep, Natura, Bemco and newcomer Comfor-Pedic, a West Coast producer. Comfor-Pedic is showing with Emerald Home Furnishings on the third floor of the Cramco Building. It offers a line of visco-elastic bedding that it says is superior to competitive visco products.
Visco bedding is the big story at Therapedic, which is showing a four-model line under the MemoryTouch banner, a complement to Therapedic's PureTouch line of latex bedding.
"MemoryTouch offers consumers a high-tech alternative to our natural latex product, PureTouch," said Gerry Borreggine, vice president of sales and marketing at Therapedic. "Together, the two lines make a dynamic one-two punch at retail."
The MemoryTouch line consists of four beds: a standard model with a zippered cover, a step-up model with a cotton cover and channel quilt, a higher profile model with a tack-and-jump quilt, and a top-of-the-line model with a three-inch visco topper over the core visco unit.
Visco is also playing a key role at Gold Bond, the leader in futons. That producer is hitting a new top price point in its futon program — $499 in full — with layers of visco and latex. And it features visco in new high-end models in its conventional bedding lineup, retailing from $999 to $1,199.
Bob Naboicheck, president of Gold Bond, noted that its conventional bedding business continues to grow. "There are opportunities to grow on the conventional side of the business," he said, adding that Gold Bond's sales in that category are up 300% in the last year.
United Sleep Products is showing a number of new visco beds, including models that target the $899 and $1,049 retail price points.
Bemco's visco introductions include models retailing at $499 and $599.
Englander is borrowing a page from Albert Einstein's playbook, introducing a marketing campaign called e=mc². The "e" stands for Englander and for energy, as in "sleep energy." It is equated to the "mattress comfort" provided by the bedding.
The campaign includes a rating and classification system in which numbers will be assigned to all of the beds in the Englander lineup. This will make it easier for consumers to understand the differences in the bedding, and it will help retailers sell more beds at higher price points.
"We are trying to make it easier for the retail salesperson to sell our products and the consumers to buy our products," said Dave Clark, vice president of Englander.
"It can be confusing for the consumer to buy furnishings."
Sealy is introducing Eureka, a model designed to give retailers a strong offering in bedding promotions.
Serta is again showing its 2004 product lines, protected with the company's proprietary FireBlocker system that gives consumers time to escape a fire and call for help, the company says.
Kingsdown is continuing to tout its DormoDiagnostics system, which provides consumers with customized comfort options. And it is celebrating its centennial with a partnership with the Children's Miracle Network. Retailers supporting the program will help hospitalized children.
