1-800-Mattress caters to Hispanic market
By David Perry -- Furniture Today, July 4, 2005
Long Island City, N.Y. — Drawing on its strong roots in the Hispanic community, 1-800-Mattress is aiming to boost its business with the Hispanic market with a Spanish-language Web site and call center.
Spanish-speaking customers, an audience increasingly sought out by marketers, can call the company at 1-800-Su-Colchon or visit it online at www.1800sucolchon.com. Those access points lead to all the same products and information that can be found at the company's English-language call center and Web site, www.mattress.com.
Officials with 1-800-Mattress, which is the largest Hispanic-owned business in New York City, said the new Spanish call center and Web site are a first in the industry.
"The Spanish-speaking marketplace is the fastest-growing consumer marketplace in the nation," said Luis Barragan, president and chief operating officer. "And we wanted a site dedicated to helping our customers make their bedding purchases in an environment where they can better understand the options and features of the products they are interested in.
"The move into the Spanish-speaking market is consistent with our corporate principles of delivering superior quality and fast and efficient customer service in whichever manner is easier for them, using the telephone, Internet or showrooms."
About one-third of the bedding consultants in the company's call center are bilingual, and the company has served Spanish-speaking customers for years. Calls to 1-800-Su-Colchon go directly to Spanish-speaking bedding consultants available 24 hours a day, seven days a week.
Luis Barragan and his father, Napoleon, have deep roots in the Hispanic community. Nap, founder and CEO of the company, was born in Bilovan, Ecuador, and taught school in Bogota, Colombia, before moving to the United States in 1969. He worked at factory jobs until he opened his first small furniture store in Queens, N.Y., the genesis of what was transformed into 1-800-Mattress.
Nap received the Latino Executive of New York Award for business excellence last year from the Metro New York Better Business Bureau in recognition of his achievements.
Luis Barragan joined the company in 1992, holding a variety of positions, and learning to speak Spanish fluently from the company's workforce. He is a director of the Better Business Bureau in New York, and is a member of the Hispanic Chamber of Commerce.
"This is a very special initiative for our family, given our Ecuadorian roots," Nap Barragan said of the new Spanish-language efforts at 1-800-Mattress. "We are very proud to offer this service to our customers," added Luis.
In a further nod to their roots, the Barragans are taking to the air with a Spanish-language radio commercial in which they address the Hispanic market and position 1-800-Mattress as being ready to meet Hispanic consumers' needs.
Luis said the company also is working with the Better Business Bureau "in developing their efforts in the Spanish community and teaming up with other Spanish-owned businesses to add value."
"We are not the only company that should address the Spanish market," Nap noted.
