Concierges, koozies tout better sleep
By Larry Thomas -- Furniture Today, June 22, 2009
High Point — At last month's Furniture Today Bedding Conference, three specialty bedding retailers demonstrated that big retailers don't have all the big ideas.
The three entrepreneurs, whose companies range in size from two stores to eight stores, shared ideas aimed not only at boosting the top and bottom lines, but improving people's lives by helping them get a better night's sleep.
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For Lisa Stansbury of Wilmington, N.C.-based Fred's Beds, it's a simple, inexpensive koozie — a foam can holder that keeps a favorite beverage cold.
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For Arthur Watkins of Nashville, Tenn.-based Mattress Inn, it's a private sleeping room where customers are allowed to nap for up to three hours.
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For Jeffrey Klein of Norwalk, Conn.-based Sleep etc., it's a line of ultra high-end mattresses that have never been previously sold by a U.S. retailer.
Here's a closer look at each big idea.
Sleep etc.: Carpe Diem
Jeffrey Klein, a third-generation mattress retailer, thought an exclusive upper-end mattress line would be ideal for the many well-heeled residents in his market, and he traveled all the way to Sweden in 2006 to search for the right one.
After meeting with several successful Swedish retailers and scoping out a few key producers, he settled on a line that was virtually unknown in the U.S. — Carpe Diem. With retail price points ranging from $5,999 to $23,999, it would surely provide the good night's sleep that moneyed southern Connecticut residents crave, he reasoned.
The new line was an immediate hit, and Carpe Diem models now occupy about one-third of the floor space at his two stores.
"The real beauty of the line ... is that is doesn't compete with anything else that I have," Klein said. "It brings in new customers."
In some cases, the customer doesn't even come to the store. Klein said he recently received a phone call from a personal assistant to a wealthy resident who was looking for a new mattress for a guest room.
After discussing where the new mattress would be used, he described several of the available Carpe Diem models, and eventually recommended one retailing for about $13,000.
The assistant promised to call back, and about a week later, she did exactly that. Klein assumed she wanted to arrange a visit to the store.
But that wasn't the case. She — and her wealthy boss — were ready to buy. So she rattled off a credit card number, and a slightly stunned Klein wrote the order.
Not every Carpe Diem sale has been that easy, but the line has been so successful that Klein recently teamed with mattress industry veteran Charles Warshaver to form a company called Scandinavian Bed Co. that is the exclusive U.S. distributor for Carpe Diem.
Klein said the new company already has secured retail placements in four states, and said he has been busy in recent weeks fielding calls from interested retailers throughout the country.
"We don't sell people on specs. We sell them on the benefits," he said. "Our passion for this product definitely rubs off on our customers. I sleep on it myself."
Fred's Beds: Keeping everybody cool
With a catchy name like Fred's Beds, Lisa Stansbury uses it as often as possible when promoting the eight-store chain her father founded in 1985. (His name, by the way, is Frank, not Fred.)
"It's on everything in the store — from the pillows on our floor samples to the bottled water we hand out to our customers," she said.
And lately, the name often has been showing up outside the stores. The Fred's Beds logo has been plastered on thousands of koozies, which are foam can holders that keep cold beverages cold.
"We ordered just a few of them at first, but they are so popular that we now order 1,000 at a time," Stansbury said.
They're given to customers who visit the store, handed out at promotional events, and even given to friends and family members to distribute to their friends.
Stansbury said the koozies, which cost less than $1 each in quantities of 1,000 or more, are purchased from a Raleigh, N.C., screen printing company called Kustom Koozies.
"Hands down, it's the best promotion we've ever done," she said.
Mattress Inn: Like a comfortable hotel
A tuxedo is not part of the typical dress code for a sales associate as a mattress store, but there are no salespeople at Mattress Inn. Instead, the retailer hires people to be a "bedding concierge."
And a bedding concierge wears a tuxedo.
"We do more than just sell beds," said Arthur Watkins, president of the two-store chain.
Each store features a pair of 250-square-foot private sleeping rooms where, by appointment, customers can take a nap for up to three hours to truly test the mattress they are interested in purchasing.
And it's not just a room with bare walls and a bare mattress. High-quality sheets, pillows, a comforter and soothing wall décor make it easier to snooze.
"We try to make it feel like they are at a hotel," Watkins said. "That's usually the most relaxing time of their lives."
He said each stores usually gets eight to nine sleep room appointments per week, and 85% of those making appointment wind up making a purchase.
Although customers have a three-hour "reservation," the average nap time is 90 minutes. And yes, couples are allowed to snooze together.
Watkins said he working to enhance the program by partnering with local restaurants, movie theaters, and even a drop-in babysitting service that would offer discounts to couples who make a sleep room appointment.
"We want to make it an event for the client," he said. "They're not just shopping for a mattress."
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