Ergo takes customized approach to comfort
By David Perry -- Furniture Today, March 26, 2006
Irvine, Calif. — Can shopping for a mattress actually be fun? It can at Ergo Customized Comfort.
The company calls it "The Ergo Experience," which it describes as "enjoyable and educational." Not many bedding retailers use those words.
The two-store retailer, based here, delivers on that promise with showrooms that provide unique, relaxing environments that showcase sleep and comfort products from around the world.
Founder Michael Nermon has worked with bedding companies in almost three dozen countries in his nearly 30 years in the bedding industry. He spent much of that time on the manufacturing side of the business, learning how to customize bedding products to maximize consumers' comfort.
Hence the name of his award-winning retail company, Ergo Customized Comfort. The focus at Ergo, as the name suggests, is on providing comfort that's just right for the consumer.
"Our primary focus is you and the benefits that a better bed or chair can provide to your life," the company says on its Web site, www.ergocomfort.com. "Two-thirds of your life is spent sitting and sleeping. We believe these two-thirds should be enjoyed stress-free and in complete comfort."
A world of expertise
Ergo serves its customers with a highly trained staff of "comfort consultants" who aim to make the shopping experience pleasant and educational. Consumers get all the information they need to make an educated decision.
The company says its product lines are the best in the world. "Ergo has gone to great lengths to research, select and import the best products from around the globe so our customers can have the latest comfort technologies available," said Nermon, the bedding veteran who founded Ergo in 2000.
He noted that "some of the most advanced products have originated in Europe. However, most retail furniture stores only carry products made in the U.S."
Nermon is an old hand at the concept of customized comfort. He developed and manufactured adjustable bedding technologies at Maxwell and Leggett & Platt for 20 years.
He has applied the customized comfort concept to virtually all of the products in his stores. Each bedding and seating product can be tailored to the consumer's individual sleeping or sitting posture. His staff is trained to expertly guide consumers through the options available to them.
Offerings encompasses several popular sleeping technologies: memory foam, latex foam, slat suspension systems, air, encased coils and adjustable beds, which Ergo calls Power Beds. The brands include exclusive lines such as Silhouette and Ergo Comfort, and well-known state and national brands such as Aireloom and Tempur-Pedic.
Ergo has carried visco bedding for over five years, and currently floors the first five mattresses introduced by Tempur-Pedic. Nermon said that visco bedding offers the same benefits found on other sleep sets in the store.
"Our customers appreciate that Tempur-Pedic beds offer key qualities and benefits found in all of the mattress products that Ergo carries: responsiveness, pressure relief, comfort, support and durability," he said.
Last year, Ergo was named one of the Retailers of the Year by the Specialty Sleep Assn. Ergo won in the small-store category.
"Ergo's customers have responded very favorably to our distinctive approach and the unique shopping experience that we provide," said Nermon. "An exceptional level of customer satisfaction and resulting referral business are the greatest reward for our efforts."
Tempur-Pedic leads the way
Nermon gives Tempur-Pedic, one of the best-selling lines on his floors, a lot of credit for sparking the current visco boom.
"Today's consumers have a greater appreciation for quality bedding and new technologies," he said. "They are placing a much higher value on the importance of a good night's sleep. Tempur-Pedic has done a tremendous job in educating consumers through their promotional efforts and stimulating the demand for a better bed. It also helps to have satisfied customers who recommend the product to their friends and family. When retailers take the time to provide the service and education that the customer requires on these products, the results are very positive."
The Tempur-Pedic line fits in well with the selling story at Ergo, which emphasizes a scientific approach to finding the best comfort for each consumer.
Ergo talks a lot about the importance of getting a good night's sleep. It uses a quote from the Better Sleep Council to set the stage. Sleep, the BSC says, "refreshes us like nothing else. It can be occasionally elusive, almost comforting, and definitely essential to our survival. And although we spend 33% of our lives asleep, we barely give it a moment's notice ... until we can't sleep. Then we think about it to the point of obsession."
Ergo aims to give consumers that good night's sleep. There is no one-size-fits-all strategy. Each bed is matched to each customer's needs.
It all adds up to Southern California's "only state-of-the-art comfort store," as the retailer proudly notes.
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Ergo takes customized approach to comfort
Mar 30, 2006
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