Sealy enters visco with Posturepedic TrueForm
By David Perry -- Furniture Today, April 18, 2005
Archdale, N.C. — Sealy is entering the visco-elastic bedding marketplace with a Posturepedic bed that features a feel favored by consumers, company officials said.
Sealy will introduce the Posturepedic TrueForm bed at the High Point market next week. It retails at about $1,699, well below some competitive models on the market.
The world's largest bedding producer says a wide rollout of the product will begin in June and should be complete by early August, giving retailers plenty of time to promote the bed in key Labor Day events.
The company has begun shipping it to select retailers. Initial retail sales have been "quite strong," said David Evans, vice president of marketing communications.
He said the visco formulation of the TrueForm bed is proprietary. "This is the consumer-preferred formulation," he said. "We feel confident the consumer appeal is there."
The TrueForm's visco doesn't allow a consumer to sink as deeply into the bed as in some other visco models, Sealy officials said. "It is easier to move around," said Margo Borgione, project manager for specialty bedding at Sealy.
The mattress has a washable knit cover that can be zipped off. "Sealy Posturepedic" is embossed on the ticking.
The TrueForm box spring, a rigid wire system, is designed to maximize the performance of the visco mattress.
Sealy says the "innovative memory foam" in the TrueForm bed adjusts to body temperature and weight, reduces pressure points and provides maximum support to the neck and spine.
Sealy will provide retailers an integrated array of support tools, including elements to help with retailer television and print advertising. High-impact retail merchandising displays also are available.
For additional consumer marketing pull, Sealy has launched a new Web site (at www.sealy.com/trueform) to help educate consumers about the Posturepedic TrueForm and the benefits of its memory foam technology.
A coordinating program with Pacific Coast Feather, Sealy's largest pillow and bedding licensee, will also introduce two models of memory foam pillows. The Sealy TrueForm Contour Pillow features a therapeutic shape to provide support for the neck while comfortably cradling the head. The Sealy TrueForm Comfort Pillow is a traditionally shaped pillow with an inner core of memory foam providing adjustability and conforming support for the head and neck.
The pillow program will be supported with in-store merchandising displays that coordinate with the TrueForm mattress program. Additional consumer marketing programs will be implemented this summer after national distribution, Sealy officials said.
The TrueForm bed has a limited warranty of 20 years, the same length as leading competitors in the visco arena.
Sealy officials said the company's brand equity is an important benefit of the new model. "The Sealy Posturepedic identity immediately gives it credibility and consumer acceptance," Evans said.
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I have designed a foam travel pillow. Its design is both esthetic and functional. (The travel...
Jeanette-Ann Concer - 2008-08-27 05:43:07
