Therapedic's $599 bedding 'rabbit' a noteworthy reminder
David Perry, Executive Editor -- Furniture Today, February 20, 2005
This week we bring you a tale of rabbits. And therein lies an interesting story of perception and reality in the world of bedding.
The folks who run Therapedic recently looked into their bag of merchandising strategies, studied the changing U.S. bedding market, and pulled out a rabbit. This was not just any rabbit, mind you. It was a $599 rabbit. Its sister rabbits will retail for $399, $499 and $699.
Specifically, they are Medicoil rabbits, a name from the past. Way back when, Medicoil was the flagship brand at Therapedic. But then an infusion of new lines took Therapedic down some new product roads. The proliferation of high-end bedding lines has become a common practice throughout the industry, of course.
And that's one of the reasons why the $599 Medicoil rabbit is noteworthy.
Some bedding observers tell me it's becoming harder and harder to find branded bedding at price points in the $399 to $699 range. The majors are pushing higher and higher price points, they say. There's no doubt that bedding retailing at $1,000 and up is commanding more and more of the industry's attention.
That's a good thing. One of the major reasons for the industry's steadily rising average unit selling price is that we are selling higher-priced beds. Those beds have additional comfort and support characteristics. They deliver a better night's sleep.
And they also deliver higher dollar volume to bedding producers and bedding retailers. This is one of those classic win-win-win scenarios.
Still, the reality is that sales of bedding at price points of $1,000 and up represent only a relatively small portion of the overall market. According to Furniture/Today's 2003/2004 Consumer Buying Trends Survey, sales of queen-sized bedding at $1,000 and up account for 17% of bedding sales in furniture stores. That figure rises to 21% in bedding specialty stores, and hits 22% in department stores.
What those figures mean, of course, is that the majority of sales are at price points below $1,000. Queen sales between $300 and $699 account for 47% of bedding sales in furniture stores. The $599 price point just may be the biggest-selling price point in the industry. Yet the industry doesn't talk much about promotional bedding lines, for the reasons cited above.
Therapedic President Gerry Borreggine gave me the idea for the rabbit metaphor in a comment he made on the introduction of the promotional Medicoil line: "This category has been neglected by manufacturers as many of us chased the same higher-priced rabbit around the track."
Therapedic wants the low-end business too, so it is trotting out some branded promotional models for the lower-priced bedding derby. It's a good reminder that while the fat, ultra-premium rabbits are getting much of the press in the industry, those lean workhorse rabbits at more modest price points are still the choice of most consumers.
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