Sit 'n Sleep's philosophy: Bigger can be better
By David Perry -- Furniture Today, March 26, 2006
Gardena, Calif. — Sit 'n Sleep has written a remarkable success story in southern California with a bigger-is-better philosophy. It operates the largest bedding sleep shops in the country — beautiful 12,000-square-foot showrooms — and sells more beds from them than anyone else.
The results speak for themselves. The retailer generates almost $6.5 million in sales per store, according to the latest figures available from Furniture/Today's survey of the home furnishings retail landscape.
So much for the $1 million in sales that a "good" sleep shop can average per store. Sit 'n Sleep, by contrast, is great.
But Larry Miller and Nelson Bercier, the company's principals, remain firmly grounded in the reality that running a successful business requires unceasing attention to detail. The two sweat the small stuff, nurture and reward their talented employees, and stress service and selection.
Did we say selection? It's the best in the business.
Sit 'n Sleep's 15 stores are literally loaded with beds, more than 100 in total. The product lineup includes all the biggest names, and some up-and-comers, too: Simmons, Sealy, Serta, Spring Air, Miralux, Stearns & Foster, Chattam & Wells, Nature's Rest, Tempur-Pedic, E.S. Kluft and Aireloom.
The lineup is about five times larger than the typical sleep shop, in Miller's estimation.
A savvy, seasoned sales force expertly fits those beds to the needs of the consumers who flood the stores, virtually all in A-plus locations on the freeway system that overlays Los Angeles like a giant spiderweb.
Location, location, location
If the stores themselves are big, the company is careful not to get too big in its thinking. Its new stores, all in the greater Los Angeles metro market, are chosen with the utmost of care. The company likes to buy its real estate and then develop the sites. It makes only "rock solid financial moves," Miller said the other day, seated in his office.
He has come a long way in the business that he and his father, Phil, founded almost 30 years ago. Larry Miller has long been the public face of the company. He's a seasoned performer on camera. "I'll beat anyone's advertised price or your mattress is freeee!" he proclaims again and again in the commercials.
That is a clever pre-emptive strike on the part of Sit 'n Sleep. Price-oriented advertising is a hallmark of many sleep shops these days, and Miller and Bercier know that almost every consumer wants a deal. So the retailer deals with the value question right off the bat, assuring consumers that its prices won't be beaten.
What it doesn't do, unlike many bedding retailers, is talk about specific bedding prices. Rarely does Sit 'n Sleep advertise prices. It's got better things to talk about, like the unmatched selection it offers, and superior customer service and top-notch retail sales associates.
Focusing on the consumer
"You have to spend enough time with consumers," Miller said. "The consumer has a favorite subject — and it's them. Shopping for a mattress is a grudge purchase. Consumers don't want to buy a mattress. But we focus on the consumer. We let them talk about themselves."
Establishing rapport with consumers through meaningful conversations helps the retail sales associates build trust. And those associates are, in Miller's words, "the best of the best." It's an elite force. "There are a long list of people who want to work for us," Miller said.
The sales associates are experts at showing off the high-end beds in the store. Miller chooses a colorful analogy to explain the lure of the luxurious — and often expensive — beds represented in abundance on the company's showroom floors. "Everybody wants to sit in a Rolls-Royce," he said. "Not everyone can afford one."
But every consumer who visits a Sit 'n Sleep store can experience the comfort of a high-end bed. "Our associates have the duty of starting consumers at a better bed," Miller said. "That is so much easier than starting at $399."
Everyone wins in this scenario. The consumers are exposed to better beds, and are more likely to purchase those better beds. Thus they sleep better. And the sales associates sleep better, too, having boosted their sales tickets. (The average ticket is about $1,000.) And those higher tickets raise the productivity of the stores. After all, you can't sell $6.5 million per store by pushing $399 mattresses.
State-of-the-art distribution
Sit 'n Sleep is well positioned for growth. Its sophisticated new warehouse and headquarters in Gardena, which opened last year, serves the entire network of stores. The warehouse occupies most of the square footage in the 238,000-square-foot complex. It has 60 doors and is set up to allow cross-docking. It should help the retailer boost turns by 20%. And it should meet the company's growing needs for the next seven to 10 years, said Bercier.
After that? Who knows, but the Los Angeles market should keep Miller and Bercier busy for many more years to come.
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